Democrats in Congress released their ambitious Green New Deal plan this week. It suggests sweeping reforms to rapidly de-carbonize the nation’s economy.
New Hampshire’s two representatives backed the idea of the plan while it was still in the works.
At a ribbon-cutting for a solar array at Newfields’ wastewater treatment plant Friday, Sen. Maggie Hassan said she's still studying the proposal.
But she says she welcomes any discussion in Congress of ways to tackle climate change while creating jobs.
“We know we need to have what I would call bite-sized solutions,” Hassan says, “and we need to work in a bipartisan way to really address this over the long term.”
Hassan is sponsoring a bill that would provide guidance for states on net energy metering, which she says would promote renewable energy at the local level – and potentially create jobs.
But even as a non-binding resolution, the Green New Deal is expected to face stiff opposition in Congress – in part because most of it would be hugely expensive to implement.