SENATE BILL: Atlasian Green Jobs Act (Law'd)

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I know this is a pretty basic bill, but it does take an important and somewhat experamental step forward to a future of clean energy.  Glaciers are litterally melting as we speak.  The midwest is as cooked as a Chicago deep dish pizza, and the polar ice caps are shrinking at an alarmingly fast rate.  

Most ecologists from all over the world will tell you that global warming is very, very real, and that we are contributing to it.  We should take action now.




BTW this is my first bill, so constructive critisism would be good.  

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I'm likely to support this.

I'd like to know what percentage of our energy is currently from renewable resources and the impact thus bill would have on the numbers.

I read that only about 11% of our energy comes from renewable resources.  

From what I've pieced together, this bill would create enough wind turbines and solar plants to power an additional 8 million homes at least.

I might actually remove the hydro power funds, since I forgot that dams have been known to hurt fish populations.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I authored a bill much like this a year ago. It calls for 20% of our energy to be from renewable resources by 2020 or something like that. I'm not sure throwing $80 billion  for more renewable energy would be that efficient with those regulations already in place.

I don't think it could hurt, it does take us closer to a 20% mark. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Here's a friendly reminder to everyone on Atlasia's existing relevant statutes!

Note that all Federal government electricity usage is required to be from renewable sources, so in Atlasia there's already a significant stable demand in the alternative energy market which would allow economies of scale to more easily develop compared to the United States. Atlasia also has a Federal carbon tax, which embeds the cost of pollution into non-clean energy sources. There's also a bunch of other incentives on the books in support of clean energy development. Given these laws, I believe it would be safe to assume that Atlasia's renewable energy producers are in a much stronger position relative to those in the real-world United States.

Also, note that there was $100 billion funded for alternative energy in Atlasia's version of the Stimulus, though it didn't specify the specific types of energy it would go towards.

Awwwwwww. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Both the President and Senator shua have good points here. I think that we should focus considerably energies on organizing processes to ensure we accomplish real results for those dollars that are spent. That leaves a queation for how these will be organized. shua suggested loans to to developers, and the President mentioned in general a focus on replacing old school industry with green industry jobs.

I would point out that there is a risk of increased unemployment as a result of this switch from old to green as far as industrial applications goes. When you force a shift in production, you inevitably are forcing the use of the latest generation machinery, to replace what likely is a previous generation setup. That shift often brings with it increased efficiency and thus a need for less workers as well. It's not a concern that should make us avoid or not do something entirely because of it, but it should be something that is considered as we push forward with this.

This bill would simply offer competition to the more established industries.  I really don't see any way the bill could hurt employment in the short run, the construction of these green energy facilities would create tens of thousands of new jobs on the spot.  And It's not like the coal and oil industries will disapear overnight or anything becuase of this. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

As for the constuction, we could simply spread it out a number of years. It would give us pleanty of room to adjust if need be.  I was thinking five to seven years maybe?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I propose an amendment, based on what feeback I've heard so far:

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......

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Tax incentives, as I said early, give companies a financial incentive to upgrade and/or change their methods. It's not a perfect solution but it works. Other times, popular support can cause a change if a competitor's ideas are proving to be popular, an older company will join the bandwagon.

However, this bill doesnt really address that.

Well I'd cetianly be happy to work with you if you had any amendments.  Just because I have a more liberal economic PM score doesn't mean I'm not willing to comprimise. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I'm thinking something like...

$50b package over 4 years.

$30b in loans to business - loan limits to be based on company size and a business plan - by application - application to include the purpose of the loan, and the measurable results (penalties up to double the loan amount will be payable immediately if the money goes elsewhere)
- Interest rate to also be determined by credit-worthiness - maximum of 5%pa - minimum of 2%.

$10b in grants to low-income businesses to undertake green-expansion projects - again with measurable outputs

$5b in loans to regional governments who wish to undertake their own Greening projects  

$5b in grants to community organisations to improve their green-credentials...

Thoughts??

This looks good, but I would like to keep a few billion for our own research and development as well.  It wouldn't make sense if the original bill was scraped entirely. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Perhaps take others down to $8bn each and direct the $4bn to a University/Industry collaborative research program?

Yes, that would be fine.   

[Fuzzybigfoot]

So I put the president's suggestions into bill form:

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What do you guys think?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

The only problem I have with this is the paltry amount being given to regional governments. We could allocate a certain amount of money to developing a clean energy grid, although I have no idea what that means.

I still think we should merge private entities and community organizations, because they really are private entities. Should we move that $4B over to regional governments? Make a separate claus for a clean energy grid, if someone can explain that to me?

Maybe reroute a bit of the money from the business loans to the regions?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

But fuzzy, I'm a capitalist pig! I want private businesses to be the main benefaciary of these loans!

But my real reason is that if this takes off, we need the private sector to be the ending for job creation. To take a page from our populist friends, it's about the people!

We could make it a $52 b package instead. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

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I hope this is the final amendment draft. I really do. I took some from here and there which probably won't make a beans bit of difference in the long run. I hope this will satisfy everyone involved, because it sure does me, and I plan on celebrating hard tonight if everyone else tells me they are a-ok.

I'm good with it.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Will university research include animal testing?

I doubt it....  

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I think this Bill addresses a lot of needs and does it fairly.

Of course you do, you basically wrote it. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I think this Bill addresses a lot of needs and does it fairly.

Of course you do, you basically wrote it. 

Excuse me...ahem

Whops, sorry, you too. 

[Fuzzybigfoot]

The amendment has passed and debate has resumed.


Final vote?

Yes.    I would like to officially call for a vote on this bill.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Aye