Biden marks Earth Day with new solar fund, measures to support U.S. Climate Corps CNN

CNN
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President Joe Biden traveled to Triangle, Virginia on Monday to mark Earth Day, unveiling $7 billion in grant funding for solar power under the Inflation Reduction Act and announcing new steps to support his administration’s U.S. Climate Corps plan. is a program popular with youth climate groups.

The announcement comes days after the Biden administration issued several major conservation announcements, including a ban on oil drilling in Alaska’s nearly half of the nation’s oil reserves.

Biden touted his climate and clean energy record against a backdrop of green Virginia trees. He called the climate crisis an existential threat that requires comprehensive, clear action.

“As president, I have seen firsthand the devastating toll of climate,” Biden said, referring to wildfires, extreme weather and deadly heat. Despite the massive devastation in red and blue states, there are still those who deny that the climate is in crisis. They want to take us backwards.I am determined, absolutely determined [that] We move on.

Janet McCabe, deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said that under the EPA’s “Solar for All” program, the government announced financial incentives for states and territories, tribal governments, municipalities and non-profit organizations to develop solar energy for the most important needs. Communities and people who need long-term solar plans.

According to McCabe, the funding will enable nearly 1 million households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from solar energy, saving more than $350 million in annual electricity costs and saving overburdened households more than $8 billion over the life of the project.

Biden also announced new action on the federal Climate Corps, a workforce training and services program designed to help prepare young Americans for clean energy and climate resiliency jobs. The administration will help Climate Corps members transition to other federal jobs after graduating from the program.

Biden said service programs like Climate Corps can bring out the best in young people to do the best for America.

You’ll be paid to fight climate change, Biden added, learning how to install solar panels, fight wildfires, restore wetlands, adapt homes to climate change and more.

He also announced a new partnership between the government and TradesFutures, a non-profit organization for North American construction unions, to allow Climate Corps members to participate in some union apprenticeship programs.

He also touted the announcement of three states, Vermont, New Mexico and Illinois, to form their own state climate teams.

Biden and other progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, in Prince William Woods, Virginia Park, which was developed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and upon which the U.S. Climate Corps was modeled.

During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt called on the American people to come together to meet the challenges and unlock the opportunities they contained to heal the pain, inspire, and move America forward. President Biden will talk about how America can show up to the American people in communities across the country in the face of the climate crisis, and this is our chance to come together.