The Greendown on Obama’s Stimulus Bill:

There’s been a lot of coverage about the stimulus package the President has recently signed. Most of the talk is regarding whether it should be passed or not. Let’s take a quick look at what some of the environmental issues President Obama is tackling.

High speed rails: Awesome, it looks like southern California is going to actually have some reliable public transportation! $9.5 billion is being allocated towards development

Energy research: About $2.5 Billion will be going to supporting energy efficient research.

Tax credits for energy efficient home improvements: It seems we have $2 billion worth of tax compensation for us to greenify our homes (and cars)!

EPA Cleanup program: $1.2 Billion will be given to the EPA to help clean up some of the less attractive portions of the country.

Beefing up public transit: $8.4 Billion will be going into bringing some of the public transportation up to par, which I actually think is a smart move – as it should motivate more people to use it.

Green job training: $500 million will be going into supporting green collar jobs.

Those are just a few of the highlight’s I thought were most relevant & interesting, but there’s a lot more in the bill! I’m really looking forward to hearing more about the compensation for making green improvements, as well as the high speed rail!

Submitted by Farhan Khalaf, a Rainmaker Network intern and current college student in CA.