Biden announces solar investments, American Climate Corps advancements at Earth Day visit to Prince William Forest Park

President Joe Biden during an Earth Day stop Monday at Prince William Forest Park made a series of announcements aimed at fighting climate change, including $7 billion to expand access to residential solar installations through the Environmental Protection Agency's “Solar for All” program.

The president, speaking alongside Democratic members of Congress in the Prince William wilderness, also announced that people can now apply to join the American Climate Corps. The initiative is modeled after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps and aims to put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change while gaining skills to join the clean energy workforce.

Democrats took a page out of history hosting the event at Prince William Forest Park, a national park created under the Civilian Conservation Corps and stewarded by the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service during the Great Depression era.

“You’ll get paid to fight climate change, learning how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands … and so much more that’s going to protect the environment and build a clean energy economy,” Biden said of the Climate Corps to a small crowd of supporters at the park, located just over 30 miles from the White House.

Americans can now apply through a new website, ClimateCorps.gov. The website will feature nearly 2,000 positions across 36 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico hosted by hundreds of organizations advancing clean energy, conservation and climate resilience, according to the White House.

Through a partnership with North America’s Building Trades Unions’ nonprofit partner TradesFutures, Climate Corps members will have access to apprenticeship readiness curriculum during their term of service, which the White House says will train members in the foundational skills for careers in the climate resilience economy and provide a pathway into other government work. The first class of the American Climate Corps will be deployed across the country in June.

The solar plan will serve every state and territory in the nation and deliver residential solar power to over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities, according to the president. The program expects to save households more than $350 million in electricity costs annually – about $400 per household – and avoid more than 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over the next 25 years, the White House said.

Biden’s speech on Monday was preceded by comments from Democratic allies, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, all of whom championed his plans for climate justice.

Sanders, a progressive from Vermont, brought attention to the extreme weather events that have taken place in recent years, including uncontrollable wildfires out west and severe flooding in his home state that caused residents to lose their homes.

“If anyone tells you the United States should not help lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels, understand that they are literally threatening the health and well-being of our children and our grandchildren and the future of the entire planet,” Sanders said. “And we can not and will not allow that to happen.” 

Ocasio-Cortez, widely known for her climate activism, touted legislation she and Markey introduced in recent years that called on the federal government to create a program similar to the Climate Corps.

“Today also serves as a reminder of the power of organizing -- of what we can accomplish when young people, climate advocates, labor organizers and working people of all backgrounds come together and demand the future we all deserve," Ocasio-Cortez said.

President Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, are locked in a tight rematch in this year's presidential election, according to the latest NBC News national poll. Trump leads Biden by 2 points in the latest polling, down from a 5-point advantage in January.

"Biden bests Trump on the issues of abortion and uniting the country, while Trump is ahead on competency and dealing with inflation," an NBC News report states.

Trump was in New York Monday morning for opening arguments of his hush money trial related to payments made to an adult film star to hide an affair. The former president has denied the affair.

At Prince William Forest Park, several local Democrats were on hand for Biden's event, including Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood, Manassas Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Deshundra Jefferson and Prince William’s Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey, whose district includes the national park. Bailey is also running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District to replace outgoing Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor.

“I am excited and I am honored that he is hosting his event in Prince William County,” Jefferson said at the event. “His commitment to both leadership and tackling the climate crisis has pushed this issue to the forefront and he has demonstrated the type of urgency we need in order to affect change.”

Check back to InsideNoVa.com for more photos and coverage of President Joe Biden's visit to Prince William Forest Park.

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