The State Department of Labor and the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) today highlighted New York State's plans to create green jobs and stimulate investment in weatherization and energy efficiency improvements for residential and commercial buildings in the Southern Tier, and across the state, through the Green Jobs/Green New York Act.
Governor David A. Paterson recently signed the act into law -- which targets the creation of hundreds of jobs across the Southern Tier -- to help prepare New Yorkers to secure jobs in the 21st century clean energy economy.
State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said, "Governor Paterson's Green Energy Bill will stimulate job creation and retention, support workforce development and advance pathways out of poverty. We all want this state to be a place that attracts and retains the best and the brightest talent, and the potential on all fronts with green is limitless."
To help connect job seekers with opportunities the State has launched a new web site to assist those seeking to enter the new green job sector. The site www.greencareersny.com is designed to make it easy for individuals, businesses and workforce professionals to find the State's local training programs and green job opportunities.
The Green Jobs/Green New York Act directs the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to establish revolving loan and green jobs training programs to retrofit homes to conserve energy. Loans will be capped at $13,000 for residential and $26,000 for commercial properties. The program will target middleclass homeowners and small businesses that will pay back the loan out of what they save on their energy bills. The job training component will focus on new entrants to the workforce and displaced workers. The training programs and any education and enrollment efforts will be subjected to a competitive procurement process available to community based-organizations.
To fund the weatherization loan program and establish the statewide green jobs training program, NYSERDA will use a portion of $112 million from the auction of carbon emission credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
The Green Jobs bill will allow the State to increase its existing and successful weatherization efforts that are already underway. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) will eventually administer $394 million in funds under American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). By the end of this month, $190 million in 64 contracts, representing every county in New York, will be executed as part of the WAP program. Under WAP, a minimum of 45,000 residential units will be weatherized in New York State.
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