After yesterday's rally celebrating the end of the 2008 elections and welcoming Minnesota's second Senator, Al Franken, Denise Cardinal, ABM's Executive Director, shared the following note:
Yesterday, a huge crowd of Minnesotans came out and joined Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, and Amy Klobuchar to finally welcome Minnesota's second Senator to the job.
In case you couldn't make it, here are a couple of photos:
Now that the wait for our second Senator is over, the real work begins. During Senator Franken's speech, he called on Minnesotans to keep organizing and to keep holding their elected officials accountable.
Well, Alliance for a Better Minnesota plans on doing just that.
Over the next few years, we are going to face many challenges -- including restoring the economy to make it work for middle-class families again, reforming our broken health care system, and solving the climate crisis.
We expect all of our elected officials, including Senator Franken, to fight for working families and not the special interests; to fight quality, affordable health care for every American; to fight for good-paying green jobs that can't be shipped overseas; and to fight for an education system that truly leaves no child behind.
It won't be easy, but with your continued support, we can rebuild the middle class and create a better Minnesota for working families.
Thank you,
Denise Cardinal Executive Director Alliance for a Better Minnesota
The White House announced today plans to invest $ 37.3 million in state, county, and city energy efficiency and conservation efforts in Minnesota. These investments will come through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by President Obama's economic recovery package, and is intended to help reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency.
In an emailed press release, Vice-President Biden, who recently toured a manufacturer of fuel-efficient busses, said:
These investments will save taxpayer dollars and create jobs in communities around the country. Local leaders will have the flexibility in how they put these resources to work – but we will hold them accountable for making the investments quickly and wisely to spur the local economy and cut energy use.
The Star Tribune has more details on how the money will be divided:
Among a long list of other things, the funds also can be used on transportation programs that conserve energy, projects that will reduce other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights.
The Department of Energy will require grant recipients to report on the number of jobs created or retained while documenting the amount of energy saved, renewable energy capacity installed and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The money is being distributed to 23 cities, 10 counties and six Indian tribes; the state's energy office is getting the biggest chunk of cash, .6 million.
The $ 37 million is in addition to the $ 131,937,411 allocated to the state for weatherization programs and the $ 54,172,000 provided for the state's energy program.
Later today, President Obama will meet with clean energy entrepreneurs and leaders to discuss strategies for building a clean energy economy to help create the jobs of the future.
Minnesota is a leader on the new clean energy front, one of the reasons the Middle Class Task force picked St. Cloud for its second meeting.
Minnesota's leadership in the new energy sector began in 2007, when Minnesota adopted what was, at the time, the strongest renewable energy standard in the country, requiring Minnesota utilities to generate 25% of their power from renewable sources by the year 2025.
This past summer, I had a chance to tour one of the facilities at the forefront of clean energy research here in Minnesota:
UM-Morris is a leader in renewable energy initiatives, both in Minnesota and America, and is home to the first large-scale wind research turbine ever constructed in the United States, which produces 5.6 million kilowatt hours of power each year--more than half of the campus' annual energy requirements.
The wind turbine and biomass gasification facility are an example of what can be done to secure our energy future, and it's going to require far more than the same old Washington gimmicks proposed by John McCain and Sarah Palin. It will require a sustained and shared effort by government, businesses, education and research facilities, and the American people. With the clean tech research being done at UM-Morris, Minnesota proves that, with clarity of direction and adequate resources, Americans poses the insight, courage, and determination to build a new economy.
The Biomass Gasification Facility is a testament to the potential of partnerships between communities, universities, and state and local governments, as Senator Obama calls for. What started with the Minnesota Legislature's appropriation of funds to build the facility in 2005, is on track to reach its goal of energy self-sufficiency on the UM-Morris campus by 2010.
Biomass technology allows crops such as corn stover and other fibrous plants to be used as fuel sources, sources which don't produce greenhouse gases and emit fewer pollutants than coal, oil, and wood.
The facility at UM-Morris generates steam to meet 80% of the campus heating and cooling needs--proof that, with proper investment, Americans can rise to the energy challenge and transform our energy economy.
The Obama administration has taken the first step to securing our energy future, including billion in energy investments and billion in tax incentives for clean energy in the economic recovery package. This is the money that will end up back in the pockets of Minnesota's families and funding the important research being done at Minnesota's universities.
The combination of public spending and tax benefits is important, because the research shows that every dollar of tax benefit stimulates as much as an additional dollar of private research and development spending, increasing the economic benefits derived from the President's plan.
Later today, President Obama will meet with clean energy entrepreneurs and leaders to discuss strategies for building a clean energy economy to help create the jobs of the future.
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