Today marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day...and it is crucial that America be on the cutting edge of green innovation and manufacturing.  In a special Earth Day piece in the Huffington Post today by EPA Administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, we are reminded of the importance of having a strong, green economy.  Jackson writes:

Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and later this year we will mark the 40th birthday of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 40 years of the remarkably successful Clean Air Act. The suite of environmental protections that took shape in 1970, along with a sweeping Clean Water Act in 1972, remain some of the most effective policies in our history.

What is sometimes less noticed is that those actions were about more than environmental protection. They also represented an economic philosophy, a belief that American industries could continue to expand and innovate without jeopardizing our health and welfare. And it worked. Despite the overheated rhetoric we often hear today about runaway environmental regulations killing jobs, our history is one of healthier families, cleaner communities -- and, yes, job-creating innovation and a stronger America.

Jackson went on to champion the next generation of American-made vehicles that will simultaneously help to protect the environment while reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Read the full article here.