Congressman Gerry Connolly is urging President-elect Obama and the Congress to expand the federal Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) as part of the economic stimulus package.   Increasing the WAP program could make dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, create green jobs, and provide much needed help to cash-strapped low-income families during tough economic times.
In letters to the President-elect and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, Connolly pointed out that the Department of Energy’s WAP program received anemic funding during the Bush administration’s tenure, even though studies have shown weatherization to be the most cost-effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Although 38 million households qualify for weatherization funding, the Department of Energy only has sufficient funding to weatherize 150,000 households annually,” Connolly said.  “At this low rate of funding, it would take 200 years to weatherize homes for all eligible households.”   Connolly said fewer than 100 homes in the 11th CD and only 770 houses in all of Virginia were weatherized in 2008.
The Energy Department’s WAP program has weatherized 3.3 million homes since its inception in 1976.  “Since we have very limited time to act to stabilize and reduce emissions, it would seem desirable to expand the WAP to the maximum extent possible,” Connolly said. 
Connolly offered to work with Chairman Waxman and the Obama administration to develop a plan to accelerate the important program. 
Connolly said the economic stimulus package could put the nation on the path toward weatherizing all 38 million eligible homes.   It could be accomplished in 8 years if the federal government committed to funding weatherization of 4 million homes annually, but Connolly acknowledged it would take several years to ramp up to that level given the current economic climate and the logistics involved.  Even a moderate increase in the number of homes weatherized annually could still generate thousands of new jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by several million tons annually, he said.
Connolly said the one-time cost to weatherize the average home is $1,700 which results in a reduction of 1.79 tons in greenhouse gas emission per house each year.