President Joe Biden announced $7 billion in grants for residential solar power projects and a new job application website for the American Climate Corps Monday. He delivered his announcements on Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va. — a national park built by the Civilian Climate Corps that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created in 1936.
“Thousands of young Americans from the Civilian Conservation Corps built this park, providing jobs, recreation, hope and healing at the time," President Biden said at an event to introduce the new climate initiatives. "Today we face another kind of existential threat that requires equally bold and clear action."
Noting that last Earth Day was the hottest on record and that natural disasters and extreme weather have caused $270 billion in damages over the last two years alone, the president said his administration is taking "two major steps forward."
Available through the Environmental Protection Agency, the new Solar for All program will provide $7 billion in grants to states, territories, tribes, municipalities and nonprofits to help develop solar programs for low-income households and disadvantaged communities.
"Energy costs are among the biggests costs for families to budget, particularly for middle-income families," Biden said. "In fact, low-income families can spend up to 30% of their paychecks on their energy bils."
The Biden administration estimates Solar for All will help 900,000 low-income households access solar power and save $400 annually in utility bills while cutting 500 million metric tons of carbon pollution each year. The program is also expected to create up to 200,000 jobs.
To help train for such jobs, President Biden announced a new website for people to apply to the American Climate Corps program his administration established last year. ClimateCorps.gov will post roughly 2,000 positions in 36 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico for young people to receive training and learn how to install solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuilt wetlands, weatherize homes and perform other clean energy jobs.
The goal "is to make it easy for any American to find work tackling the climate crisis while gaining the skills necessary for the clean energy and climate resilience workforce of the future,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The program’s first recruits will deploy in June. Those who join the American Climate Corps will be able to apply for federal service jobs through a new Recent Graduates program that streamlines their eligibility.
American Climate Corps launched with 10 states, including California, Florida and Nevada. On Monday, Illinois, New Mexico and Vermont joined the program.