OLYMPIA, WA - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says the stimulus money given to Washington state will help create clean jobs. Lisa Jackson was in Seattle Friday to follow up on the $16 million in federal funds that state agencies have recently received to lower diesel emissions.

Jackson says that money will go to retrofit locomotives, trucks and tugboats.And she says those retrofits are creating work and manufacturing jobs.

Jackson: “I toured a tugboat and I was asking them about the equipment that's going to be put on to reduce diesel emissions by about 50%, carbon monoxide by 75-80%, and that equipment has to be manufactured, parts of it come from Pennsylvania, so it's a web of green supply.”

Jackson says she's a pragmatist about burning coal to produce energy. And she thinks coal will be part of America's clean energy future.

Jackson: “There's no way we're going to move to energy efficiency and more importantly renewables overnight. That is a transition. The president has called for a transition to clean energy and also a transition to homegrown sources so that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And so I think we have to be realistic and realize that with a resource as abundant as coal it's going to be around for awhile.”

Jackson says the Obama Administration is open to exploring nuclear energy production.She says the EPA would look carefully at permitting issues if the country decides to move toward more nuclear power.

Copyright 2009 KUOW

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