By Debra DeHaney-Howard and Kevin McCarty
August 1, 2011

Conference of Mayors President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa touted “green technology as an area where we can grow the economy” during his opening remarks at a July 22 afternoon session in his city on job creation through greater energy security.

“Cities, regional and metro economies can create jobs by supporting a national effort to make the U.S. energy independent. As mayor, I’ve had an opportunity in this city to spur job creation and create green jobs,” said Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa’s message about the significant economic opportunity from growing green jobs was a theme repeated throughout the session, held during the Conference of Mayors 2011 Summer Leadership Meeting. The panel, moderated by Los Angeles Times environment and energy reporter Margot Roosevelt, featured presentations from White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance Executive Director and former Head of Google Energy Initiatives Dan Reicher, and Farallon Capital Management’s Founder and Co-Managing Partner and Co-Chair of Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs (CCEJ) Tom Steyer.

Citing a new CCEJ report, Villaraigosa told his colleagues that “the Los Angeles metro area is home to more green jobs than any region in the nation. The report also shows that these jobs will more than double, not just here in Los Angeles but across the nation, over the next thirty years.” He also talked about his city’s initiatives, including meeting its 20 percent renewable energy goal.

At the outset of the panel, Villaraigosa acknowledged Tracey Wright, a recent graduate of a workforce development and job training program in the city as an example of how residents are being prepared for careers in the green energy sector.

“For the first time in more than a decade, we finalized last year EPA and DOT regulations that will improve fuel economy standards for the vehicle fleet model year 2012-16,” Sutley said.

Reminding the mayors of the importance of improving fuel economy standard for vehicles, she said, “The effort to improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our vehicles is so important, as greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants affect many of our cities. Transportation is one of the two biggest sources of both conventional air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and we need to reduce it.”

When pressed by the panel moderator on whether or not President Obama would hold strong on 56 mpg or negotiate down the standard, Sutley said, “There are a lot of people who understand the technical aspects to this and are working very hard to get to an aggressive standard.”

On the status of pending legislation to facilitate the use of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, she said, “The idea behind PACE was a good one because we all know the barriers to retrofitting homes is the upfront costs, and the PACE program and others were designed to deal with those costs by creating a financial mechanism through property taxes.” Sutley did not indicate whether the Administration was supporting the pending bipartisan House legislation on PACE but noted that they are also looking at other alternatives, including FHA’s Power Saving Loan program. In her remarks, she lauded the Department of Energy’s Better Building Program, a recently-launched Administration initiative that aims to retrofit homes and office buildings.

“The best way to grow the green economy is for municipal governments to lead by example and this means to buy green products, provide free energy audits and retrofit commercial buildings. This is the low hanging fruit in terms of saving energy and putting people to work,” said Steyer.

“This is also true in the home efficiency area; home retrofits is another area that has the tremendous ability to create jobs,” he said. Urging mayors to work with their utilities, Steyer explained that “this is where there is going to be a lot of dollars spent so if you can change it to green dollars spent, this will have an enormous impact, and create real demand for green businesses and green jobs.”

Reicher Says Standards Needed to Advance Green Economy

In addressing how the nation moves forward to a greener economy, Reicher said, “We have to look at clean energy from the perspective of a triangle that includes technology, policy and finance. Unless we are advancing the technology, putting the right policies in place and ensuring adequate financing, we are not going to take advantage of all these wonderful opportunities.” On the issue of policy, Reicher said, “there are roles that governments at all levels can take in setting rigorous standards for energy efficiency and that is happening. Policy is a critically important driver in this.”

During mayoral discussion, Energy Committee Chair Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido praised the work of his colleagues and reminded the panel members that “a lot of the solutions are in cities.”

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin told participants that “since receiving Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding, we have done more than 1000 home energy audits.” Adding to her description of the city’s efforts, she said, “The PACE program was critical for them and that our programs were stymied when it went by the wayside.”

For full viewing online of the panel and the discussion, go to the website www.usmayors.org.