How the Obama Stimulus Plan May Help Environmental Projects

Both Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have said that they do not want the stimulus package to turn into a typical federal appropriations bill, stuffed with earmarks and goodies for a congressman's home district. How, then, will Congress designate what it wants to fund?

Part of the answer appears to be that Democratic leaders are looking to help state and city programs that already exist but are badly in need of funding. Likewise, Congress has approved two giant energy bills in the past three years with hundreds of new programs. But in many cases, the programs have been left unfunded. In 2007, for example, Congress authorized a new smart-grid program with a price tag of $200 million a year for three years. But that program has gone largely unfunded, according to records.

Environmental advocates, meanwhile, hope that long-neglected areas, such as water treatment and land preservation, will finally get attention and that the stimulus package will promote conservation after years of resource depletion. Much of the nation's infrastructure—roads, sewer systems, transport pipelines—dates to the World War II era, if not well before then; some sewer systems in the Northeast are more than 100 years old and vulnerable to flooding after heavy rain.

Betsy Otto, vice president of American Rivers, says lawmakers should focus on alleviating problems in existing systems and on restoring wetlands and other natural protections. "Partly, this is a question of follow the money," Otto says. "In the past, money has been in funding pots for the Army Corps of Engineers and highway development. Communities have followed where funding sources are—new development, creating taller and taller levees. Part of a sound national strategy would be investing in efficiency and natural solutions."

Inevitably, there will be clashes. Some groups say the stimulus package should include funding for carbon capture and sequestration technology for coal plants; others say the money should be spent only on renewable technology. Some want massive funding for roads, in part to alleviate wasteful idling in big-city traffic; others say funding for roads should be redirected to companies working on electric cars or advanced biofuels.

A point of general agreement, however, is that the stimulus package should go beyond piecemeal funding and look at setting broad policies that will encourage private investment amid poor conditions. "I don't know if we have the luxury of picking which industries we want to support in this economic crisis," Harbert says. "We need all types of jobs and all types of energy."

• Read more about Obama's stimulus spending plans.
• Read about how climate change is affecting the Arctic.
• Read about Obama's newly appointed energy and environment team.