Stimulus Includes Green Funds for DC

Stimulus Includes Funds for Metro

The DC metropolitan-area had high expectations for funding in the stimulus plan.

Money for mass transit, infrastructure, home weatherization and federal energy efficiency alterations were on the wish list for area leaders and environmental activists.

In spite of significant alterations to the original stimulus plan proposed by Congressional Democrats, the end result of intense negotiations still brought a generous level of financial support for our community.

The final tally includes:

• Highway and Bridge Construction:
  • District of Columbia: $123.5 million
  • Virginia: $694.5 million
  • Maryland: $431 million
• Mass Transit & Rail:
  • District of Columbia: $124.9 million
  • Virginia: $116.1 million
  • Maryland: $179.3 million
• Weatherize Modest-Income Homes:
  • District of Columbia: $8 million
  • Virginia: $97 million
  • Maryland: $63 million

In addition to these funding allocations, the Smithsonian received $25 million to fix its facilities.

Perhaps most importantly to the DC metro-area was the $4.5 billion set-aside to make federal buildings more energy efficient. As I stated in THIS post, the effort to make federal buildings more energy efficient should create many opportunities for green collar jobs and clean energy development in DC because of the large federal government presence in our community.

To read more about how the stimulus bill impacts the DC area on the Washington Post website, click HERE.

Photo Credit: CC-licensed by Flickr user Alex Barth