Green New Deal light on details, doesn't mention rural America - Entrepreneur Generations

Like President Trump's proposed budget, the Green New Deal is unlikely to pass in Congress but it reveals the priorities of its supporters. The non-binding resolution, sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Sen. Ed Market, D-Mass., calls for broad reforms intended to address climate change and societal inequality but doesn't provide much specific policy, Jan Pytalski reports for independent nonprofit news outlet 100 Days in Appalachia.

So where would the Green New Deal leave rural America? Republican lawmakers have tried to position it as an anti-rural bill, saying that its focus on lowering greenhouse gas emissions means it's anti-beef (since cow emissions are a potent source of methane).

Whitney Kimball-Coe, director of the Center for Rural Strategies, told 100 Days that "rural does not appear to be mentioned at all" in the GND, and wants rural communities to have a crucial role in crafting policies that would affect them. She noted that many rural communities are already pursuing renewable energy and conservation initiatives, and cautions federal lawmakers not to "disregard the work that has already been done at the local level by putting a federal plan on top of it."

 "Here in Appalachia, economic identity is based around extractive economies, putting these concerns right in the crosshairs of the Green New Deal. But the vague promises of the GND proposal and lack of direct involvement with the rural communities presents a problem to many rural organizers," Pytalski.

Erin Bridges, the fundraising director for the Sunrise Movement, a think tank that helped craft the GND, told Pytalski that the plan will have "a special eye for communities that have historically relied on fossil fuels, because we know we need to ensure economic security and healthy communities for those who have been on the frontlines of extraction for so long."

Greg Carlock of Data for Progress, the lead author of the report that lists the GND's policy goals, acknowledged that the proposal is light on policy (which he says is coming soon) but said rural extraction industry workers should receive financial help during the transition to a greener economy. "We also need things that address the positive side of the transition that’s pulling them into new growth areas. Whether it’s targeting certain subsidies or programs in these communities, a positive injection of resources," Carlock said. 

The nation's largest labor union disapproves of the GND because of that transition, which would mean thousands of Americans losing jobs in the extraction industries, Jack Crowe reports for conservative publication National Review. The AFL-CIO sent out a letter Friday criticizing the proposal's lack of concrete policy: "We welcome the call for labor rights and dialogue with labor, but the Green New Deal resolution is far too short on specific solutions that speak to the jobs of our members and the critical sections of our economy," the letter reads. "We will not accept proposals that could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families. We will not stand by and allow threats to our members’ jobs and their families’ standard of living go [sic] unanswered."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2O0FJsQ Green New Deal light on details, doesn't mention rural America - Entrepreneur Generations

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