Cory Booker: “Right here. Energy retrofits are manufactured right here in the United States of America. This is the collateral…”

“Right here. Energy retrofits are manufactured right here in the United States of America. This is the collateral benefit, the multiplier effect we are talking about. Attic insulation, replacement windows, and new furnaces--more than 90 percent of the energy efficient materials are made in the USA, putting Americans to work, fueling our economy, and making us strong and successful in a multiple of layers. That is all in just one segment of the green economy. I am just talking about retrofitting. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have already been created, as we both know, in the wind and solar sectors. People don't know, but New Jersey is one of the leaders in the solar industry. Only California does better than we do, and those sectors are still in their infancy. We can have a healthy environment and a healthy economy. These false choices that people seem to be putting up are simply that: false choices. It is not the tyranny of the ``or;'' it is the liberation of the ``and.'' They are not mutually exclusive. When I was mayor of Newark we took action. Understanding this data and these facts, we worked with the building trades, and they created a laborers local, local 55 in my area, that focused on weatherizing residential properties in Newark. We recruited Newark residents who were taught how to perform energy audits and residential retrofits. Our residents had new job opportunities, and our homeowners who participated in the program saw energy savings.…”