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Colo. Could See Transportation And New Energy Jobs

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Dec 10, 2008 6:04 am US/Mountain

Colo. Could See Transportation And New Energy Jobs

Good Question: What Would Barack Obama's Economic Plan Mean For Colorado?

Reporting
Alan Gionet
WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4) ― They wait for the bus. They're also waiting for their job prospects to get better. They're unemployed.

"There's nothing right now, it's hard," says one woman. "I've been looking for two months now. I've put in about 150 applications."

But it hasn't been enough. Over the weekend, President-elect Barack Obama emerged with his plan to create jobs.

He promised to improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings, make massive improvements in America's transportation infrastructure, expand the broadband network and focus on the new energy economy.

For Colorado, there's already a list. The state has compiled a wish list called the "Sample Stimulus Project List." We've included a copy of it below.

It outlines a long list of projects - mostly transportation, that could be job creators.

Obama said they must be, "Shovel ready." The state says they are. They range from a $210 million re-do of I-270 between I-70 and I-76 to projects to re-paint highway lanes.

The state is already short on hundreds of millions of dollars in the next budget because of a soft economy. If it passes, the Obama plan could help fund some overdue transportation projects.

But that's not all.

"We also are really advocating for research and development on a lot of different kinds of technology that include renewables and also clean coal, things of that nature," says Gov. Bill Ritter.

The Governor's Energy Office tells us it's hoping for money to build out the power grid between Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona. It would mean a greater ability to share and produce power from new energy sources like solar and wind.

Wyoming for instance produces wind at times when Southern Colorado usually does not. They could balance each other out. It might be sunny in Arizona, while it's cloudy in Colorado. And an expansion of the grid might mean selling power to Phoenix or even Los Angeles.

Ritter says the plan might mean more "manufacturing jobs around renewable energy, ones that have to do with weatherization and increasing energy efficiency" as described in the Obama plan.

It will all have to be approved by Congress of course, but the concept of expanding the new energy and transportation infrastructure, could mean jobs in a state stinging from the economy's painful slap.

There's more in the video version of the story on the right.

Additional Resources: 

List of Possible Colorado Projects

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