The White House has a new help wanted ad seeking thousands of young Americans to be paid and trained for green energy and environmental jobs.
President Biden used his executive power on Wednesday to create the American Climate Corps, a program that the White House says in the first year will put more than 20,000 young people in careers to combat climate change through clean energy, conservation and climate resilience.
Mr. Biden signed the order amid international protests as part of the annual Climate Week and after years of lobbying from environmental groups to establish such a program.
“We’re opening up pathways to good-paying careers, lifetimes of being involved in the work of making our communities more fair, more sustainable, more resilient,” White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters.
The head of the youth-led climate activist group Sunrise Movement, which led calls for the program, has for years said young voters focused on climate change want to see more action on the issue.
“I am thrilled to say that the White House has been responsive to our generation’s demand for a Climate Corps and that President Biden acknowledges that this is just the beginning of building the climate workforce of the future,” Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash told reporters during a White House press call. “Young people need to see actions like this and more of it in the lead up to the 2024 election.”
Democrats also heaped praise on Mr. Biden for launching the Climate Corps.
“This will mobilize a new generation of conservation and climate workers to help our communities address climate change,” Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California wrote on social media.
There are many details left to be answered that the White House said it will address in the coming weeks, such as specifics about the types of jobs, how much the program will pay, its overall funding cost and the source of funding.
The White House was vague in saying that the corps will “put a new generation of Americans to work conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies and tackling climate change.”
Administration officials said examples include learning how to install solar panels, restoring coastal wetlands and working as electricians for green technologies.
One of the first initiatives under the program will be in conjunction with AmeriCorps, which will help run the American Climate Corps, and the U.S. Forest Service to create a $15 million Forest Corps.
The five-year interagency agreement will start with 80 hires and will begin in the summer of 2024. Its mission will be to “deploy across America to conserve national forests and grasslands, mitigate risks of wildfires in high-risk regions, and support reforestation efforts and wildfire crisis response,” AmeriCorps said.
Forest Corps hires will receive a “compensation package” worth $15 an hour, along with lodging, transportation, clothing, a living allowance and health benefits.
AmeriCorps will create a hub for the American Climate Corps that will be operated under five additional federal agencies: Departments of Labor, Interior, Energy and Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The program will operate in 10 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah and Washington.
American Climate Corps takes after President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps under the New Deal in 1933 which employed men aged 18-25 for roughly a decade to improve public lands, forests and parks.
Mr. Biden initially sought to establish a multibillion dollar American Climate Corps program under the Democrats’ tax-and-climate spending law known as the Inflation Reduction Act but was unsuccessful.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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