Maine, a recent report has stated, can generate 9,000 new jobs through a $100 billion “green economic recovery plan” of federal tax credits, investments and loans.

This sounds quite good. A federal emphasis on environmental sustainability and energy alternatives is long overdue; these incentives should have been introduced and enacted years ago, long before fuel reached $3.50 per gallon.

Yet this milestone is both blessing and curse. Though costs of fuel and heating oil have become a burden, they are better incentives than anything government can design for energy efficiency, alternatives and environmental standards.

This should render a $100 million “green” jobs package superfluous – the economy is headed this way anyway. Instead of this limited approach, as suggested by the Political Economy Research Institute’s report, we would urge one that is much more comprehensive.

Look around at what’s happening in traditional economies. In paper, for example, the alien terms of “sustainable forestry” and “environmental compliance” are taking root, and dictating almost every move the industry makes.

It does because clients demand it. In an environmentally conscientious marketplace, consumers want products to be as “green” as possible, and will shift their spending dollars toward those companies that share these desires.

Ask an automaker how this principle works. Or a steelworker or an electrician, for that matter, both of whom are loudly espousing the “green” economy for the opportunities it would provide in these traditional trades.

Rising costs of fuel and other commodities affect everyone – few, if any, people or sectors are immune. The common solution to this common problem is found in “green” technologies and practices.

This is turning almost every job into a “green job” and the “green economy” from a small, fringe economic division into perhaps the most important economic advancement of the 21st century.

A $100 billion “green economic recovery plan” is, at best, a short-term idea. The scope of the “green economy” is expanding rapidly, and its promise is far beyond this small-by-comparison federal incentive package.

Which, in fact, might not be needed. The economy has been going green, so far, without the government’s help.

A push now might move it a little faster.

But the government could also help, just as much, by getting out the way.