Suburban Sprawl

Re “Sprawl’s Costs Hurting State, Report Finds,” Jan. 31:

It is welcome news that Bank of America has joined with Greenbelt Alliance and other nonprofit groups to denounce suburban sprawl as bad for both the environment and the economy. But is it really, as your subhead stated, such an “unusual” alliance?

In every business sector, a growing number of California companies realize that a healthy environment and a healthy economy are complementary, not contradictory. The numbers bear this out, from an MIT study that found the strongest economies in states with the highest environmental standards, to the Worldwatch Institute’s report that generating energy through clean, safe, renewable technologies creates several times more jobs per kilowatt than fossil fuels or nuclear power. Profitable progressive companies see Germany and Japan pushing ahead with ozone-friendly refrigerators, low-emission vehicles and chlorine-free paper, and are determined not to be left behind in the economy of the future.

It’s time to bury the “jobs vs. the environment” argument. Not only is it politically and socially divisive, and harmful to California’s efforts to build an environmentally sustainable economy, it’s just not true.

SAM SCHUCHAT, Executive Director

California League of Conservation Voters

San Francisco