Energy Department will recruit 1,000 additional staffers for new corps to tackle the climate crisis
A solar farm near Bakersfield
By Liz Stark
The US Energy Department is launching a Clean Energy Corps to help implement the recent bipartisan infrastructure law and develop clean-energy solutions to the climate crisis, the agency announced Thursday.
The Clean Energy Corps — which will comprise staff from over a dozen offices across the department — will also seek to recruit an additional 1,000 employees through a newly launched hiring portal.
This effort is the Energy Department’s largest workforce expansion since the agency was created in 1977, the department said.
“This is an open call for all Americans who are passionate about taking a proactive role in tackling the climate crisis and want to join the team that is best positioned to lead this transformative work,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement Thursday. “Solving the world’s greatest challenge will require the inclusion of all voices, perspectives and experiences — and we need people like you to ensure that DOE fulfills on our commitment to accelerating the clean energy transition to reduce emissions and save our planet.”
In Thursday’s announcement, the Energy Department cited special hiring authority included in the bipartisan infrastructure law. The legislation, signed in November, allocated more than $62 billion in funding to the Department for a wide range of energy and climate initiatives.
The department further outlined it is recruiting candidates for the Clean Energy Corps from a host of different industries, including project management, physical sciences, engineering, legal, business administration and public policy, among others. DOE also emphasized the Clean Energy Corps will “mirror the diversity within America and ensure the inclusion of workers who have lived in communities impacted by climate change.”
On Wednesday, the White House unveiled several new initiatives across the government to bolster offshore wind production, streamline a review of public lands for clean energy and implement power grid improvements as part of the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law.
The Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold the administration’s first wind auction next month for more than 488,000 acres off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, according to a senior administration official. This upcoming sale is expected to generate 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of clean energy, according to a government fact sheet.
The administration estimates that by 2025 it expects to hold up to six additional offshore lease sales across the nation, according to the senior official.
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