After meeting with some of President Barack Obama’s top environmental advisers, Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris hopes to attract “green” jobs to the area by using old manufacturing plants to build renewable energy technology.
“We’ve been hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs in our region by the thousands,” Norris said in an interview after Monday’s meeting at the White House. He said he hopes to talk to leaders of other cities that have successfully attracted such jobs, then replicate the methods for Charlottesville to “reclaim some of our old manufacturing base.”
Norris said he received the invitation to participate in the meeting late last week. The trip marked the first time the mayor had been inside the White House complex.
Apart from environmental advisers, attendees included U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“It was very interesting. My head has been filled with good information,” Norris said.
Norris said some of the discussion centered on making investments in renewable energy, which federal initiatives are already under way and how the country could move away from foreign dependence on oil and on polluting sources of energy, such as coal.
“The Obama administration is proposing record levels of investment in all of the above,” Norris said.
Norris said he thought he was invited because Charlottesville has been making inroads toward becoming a more environmentally friendly city and has been recognized for its efforts.
One recent example includes Charlottesville and Albemarle receiving a $500,000 grant from the Southeastern Energy Alliance. The grant was given to fund the localities’ proposal to create a program that will lower energy and water costs by retrofitting older buildings and installing renewable technology.
“I think we’ve made a name for ourselves,” Norris said.
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