Corzine lauds green-collar jobs training at program launch in Trenton

TRENTON — Gov. Jon S. Corzine today helped launch a training program that will create hundreds of so-called green-collar jobs for high school graduates.

The governor unveiled the $2 million training program at Isles, a Trenton community development organization that has created a Center for Energy and Environmental Training, which expects to train several hundred people this year, and roll out its training program throughout the state.

It’s expected that thousands of jobs, which will involve completing energy audits and retrofitting buildings to save energy, among others, will be created in the state during the next few years, and are part of Corzine’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2020.

Laurence M. Downes, chief executive of utility New Jersey Resources, said the training program “will play an important role in advancing New Jersey’s economic recovery, as well as its environmental goals, and ensuring it remains a great place to live and work.”

Corzine called the need for greater energy efficiency “one of the things that gets lost in this great big shuffle.”

“We have to make decisions, house by house and building by building, all of our assets, to reduce our consumption of energy and make us less dependant on those that provide it — and sometimes hold us hostage to get it.”

The governor said these jobs will allow young people “to make a very good living and create a pathway of opportunities. This is the early stage of the green economy, and if you can acquire these skills and grow them, you will have a great future.”

Isles founder Martin Johnson said there’s a lot of talk about these jobs in energy efficiency, “but the question is whether people in places like Trenton — which now has a 16 percent unemployment rate — whether those of us who live here will get access to these green-collar jobs. We’re here to say yes, we will.”

David J. Socolow, commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said more money will become available for green-collar job training. The Board of Public Utilities is to get $75 million through the federal stimulus, and while he doesn’t know if that money can be used for training, he believes this program will be a strong pre-existing model that will be eligible for that funding.

The state estimates these green-collar jobs will pay $15 per hour.