I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7050 
To create a 21st Century Civilian Energy Conservation Corps focused on 
promoting and improving the energy conservation and efficiency of resi-
dential and public buildings and spaces, creating economic opportunity 
for disconnected youth, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 
Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. 
MATSUI, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. SUTTON, and Mr. GRIJALVA) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To create a 21st Century Civilian Energy Conservation Corps 
focused on promoting and improving the energy con-
servation and efficiency of residential and public build-
ings and spaces, creating economic opportunity for dis-
connected youth, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Energy Conservation 
Corps Act of 2008’’. 
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SEC. 2. ENERGY CONSERVATION CORPS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) es-
tablished in 1933 was one of the singularly success-
ful Federal programs in American history. 
(2) The CCC provided work and vocational 
training for 3,500,000 unemployed young Americans 
through projects designed to develop and conserve 
the country’s natural resources and build and main-
tain its infrastructure. 
(3) Projects included environmental clean up, 
wild fire prevention, erosion control, vegetation map-
ping, invasive species removal, reforestation, rec-
reational facility construction, trail building, swamp 
drainage, flood relief, and disaster response. 
(4) This extensive development and improve-
ment of public lands by the CCC was in large part 
responsible for the modern national and State park 
systems. 
(5) Today, an estimated 3,800,000 18–24 year 
olds, roughly 15 percent of all young adults, are nei-
ther employed nor in school. Since 2000 alone, the 
ranks of these nonengaged young adults have grown 
by 700,000, a 19 percent increase. 
(6) High school dropouts are at high risk of in-
carceration. Approximately 16 percent of all young 
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men, ages 18–24, without a high school degree or 
GED are either incarcerated or on parole at any 
point in time. According to a 2002 Report from the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2,000,000 people are 
incarcerated at an average annual cost of $20,000 
per inmate—for a total cost of $40,000,000,000 per 
year. 
(7) In testimony before the House Education 
and the Workforce Committee in 2005, Secretary of 
Education Margaret Spellings said that dropouts 
‘‘cost our Nation more than $260 billion’’ in ‘‘lost 
wages, lost taxes, and lost productivity over their 
lifetimes’’. 
(8) Energy inefficiencies account for at least 50 
percent of all United States energy use. 
(9) According to the World Watch Institute, 
United States electricity use could be reduced by 70 
percent through efficiency gains alone. 
(10) Estimates indicate that while the average 
United States household’s energy costs are equal to 
7 percent of household income, low-income house-
holds spend 17 percent of their household earnings 
on energy. 
(11) In a manner similar to the CCC of the 
1930s, disconnected young people can be mobilized 
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to retrofit, weatherize, and otherwise improve the 
energy efficiency of residential and public facilities 
that account for more than 40 percent of carbon 
emissions. 
(12) The rehabilitation, renovation, and retro-
fitting of these facilities by disconnected youth en-
gaged in public service benefit the disconnected 
youth, the facility resident and owners, the commu-
nities in which they are located, as well as the envi-
ronment as shared by all. 
(13) Service and conservation corps, by pro-
viding educational and training opportunities to dis-
connected youth through national and community 
service projects, have an established record of ad-
ministering such projects. 
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section— 
(1) to create an Energy Conservation Corps 
that will provide educational and economic opportu-
nities to disadvantaged and disconnected youth by 
engaging them in team-based service projects de-
signed to promote and improve the energy conserva-
tion and efficiency of residential and public buildings 
and spaces; and 
(2) through the Energy Conservation Corps, to 
stimulate interest among young people in steward-
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