Because jobs are the only benefit of environmental policy (sarcasm):
Leading Senate Democrats unveiled their vision Tuesday for a comprehensive energy policy overhaul that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through new technology.
The legislative proposal, put together by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, combines tax policy changes, emission reduction goals and research with smaller provisions, seeking to rapidly grow low- and zero-carbon energy in the United States.
But the effort is just as much a response to Republicans, who Democrats say are still pushing a “drill, baby, drill” policy aimed at increasing the production and use of fossil fuels without concern for the environment.
Cantwell said the effort included input from 25 senators on three committees, and that the plan now has 28 co-sponsors. ...
Cantwell estimated that the legislation, dubbed the American Energy Innovation Act of 2015, would create 3.5 million jobs, a figure that elicited an audible “ooh” from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
via thehill.com
That's a lot of jobs created by constraining the production process of U.S. business firms. It is about equal to the number of jobs lost in the U.S. economy in 2008 and the number of jobs gained in the last 14 months of final job employment data (May 2014 to June 2015).
I have a hard time believing that constraining the production process will create (net) jobs. Constraints typically bear a cost and do not create benefits. While jobs will be gained in the clean energy sector they will be lost in the dirty energy sector. Business firms prefer dirty energy because it is cheaper and the switch to clean will cost more money. The additional production costs cause output to fall and jobs would be lost on net. If these additional jobs are part of the increased cost then jobs might increase on net but that is a bad thing from a benefit-cost analysis (i.e., efficiency) perspective.
The true benefit of the Senate Democrats' plan should be measured by the reduction in the social cost of carbon.