The Senate Climate Bill Will Bring Jobs to Your State
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/media/ACES%20white%20paper1.pdfLast week the New York Times ran a story in which the headline said it all: "New Energy Injects Hope in a Colorado Steel Town." It described how, in a time of record unemployment, steelworkers in Pueblo are finding new jobs with one of the few burgeoning sectors in our economy: wind energy.
The stories of the Pueblo steelworkers -- and the fact that one wind company alone has committed to operating four manufacturing plants in Colorado -- provide yet another example of how investing in clean energy generates jobs for American workers.
These stories also offer a forecast of what could happen to scores of other manufacturing cities when America passes clean energy and climate legislation. Such a law, like the one the Senate will be considering in September, would expand the market for low-carbon solutions like wind energy, and as the demand grows, so too will the job opportunities.
This is why so many labor unions have lined up in support of clean energy legislation, including the United Steelworkers and the Service Employees Union International.
And yet opponents of the bill continue to trumpet false claims that the bill will hurt American workers. In fact, if your senators vote no on this clean energy legislation, they are saying no to American jobs.
The Climate Bill Is a Jobs Bill
Combined with the economic stimulus package, the House passed a clean energy bill in June that could create 1.7 millions jobs throughout America, according to the Political Economy Research Institute at University of Massachusetts
Why so many opportunities? Clean energy jobs are more labor intensive and require more domestically-made materials than the fossil fuel industry. In fact, for every $1 million spent on clean energy, we can create 3 to 4 times as many jobs as if we spent the same amount on fossil fuels.
These green opportunities will be spread across the 50 states. Here are just a few examples:
- UMass has estimated that Ohio alone could produce almost 70,000 jobs--opportunities for steelworks who build wind turbines, electricians who install solar panels, and construction workers who retrofit buildings to make them more energy efficient.
- In Missouri, 25 moderate-scale wind farms would result in 550 permanent construction jobs and75 million in ongoing economic impact. Meanwhile, replacing 20 percent of Missouri's coal usage with locally grown biomass would create 11,000 jobs.
- And in Virginia, more than 336,000 people already work in areas that will see job growth or wage increases as a result of putting clean energy solutions in place.
Colorado Enjoys the Dividends of Investing in Clean Energy
Colorado has been on the forefront of seizing these opportunities, thanks in no small part to the leadership of Governor Bill Ritter Jr.
I met Governor Ritter last summer when we both traveled onboard the ship National Geographic Endeavor through the Arctic Ocean. We had been invited by the Aspen Commission on Arctic Climate Change to see the effects of global warming first hand. I realized on the trip that Governor Ritter grasped the urgency of the climate crisis.
But his efforts to expand clean energy in Colorado are not just about saving the planet; they are about saving the state's economy. Last week, Governor Ritter told a Senate panel that Colorado's clean energy development has created new jobs and business opportunities in his state. He explained:
If there is a lesson ... for other states and the nation as a whole, it is that good energy policy and climate policy can energize the economy and help create good-paying private sector jobs.
The governor of Washington, Chris Gregoire, concurred. She told the same Senate panel that Washington has already created nearly twice the 25,000 new green jobs it had hoped to create by the year 2020.
Clean energy job opportunities are not limited to Colorado and Washington. Click on this map to see how your state can benefit from clean energy development. And encourage our senator to seize these opportunities by passing clean energy and climate legislation this fall.
This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Here is a case study on Green Jobs:
http://www.juandemariana.org/pdf/090327-employment-public-aid-renewable.pdf
Read it. Decide for yourself.
Let's ask all those on the Western slope of Colorado how they feel. It is oil, gas, coal and shale country that is already losing jobs due to Ritter. He has killed thousands of jobs distinct from the recession by damaging the energy companies. He is not well regarded outside of the cities.
Best jobs go to NY for the traders at Goldman. It is cap n TRADE. Billions to be made trading the credits.
Green jobs a plenty!
At your local transfer station / dump sorting the recyclables.
Frances, you are woefully misinformed. The climate bill will DESTROY the economy in my state, which is reliant heavily on oil and gas production. A huge portion of that segment comes from small mom and pop companies that service our production. Those jobs will be lost, and not replaced in any way by "green" jobs.
What's silly about all this talk and hand-wringing is that the answer is available and plentiful. Mass conversion immediately to NG would lower CO2 much more than proposed legislation, and particulate emission by 99%. We would be energy independent. The increased tax revenues would pay for R&D and infrastructure development in alternative energies. There would be a genuine and immediate increase in employment for conversion of vehicles to CNG and installation of home and fixed refueling stations.
why do you, supposedly a sincere environmentalist, ignore this common sense solution in favor of a Rube Goldberg machine that will only enrich Goldman Sachs and allow lobbyists to chip away at any meaningful action?
Great comment. This author of this column seems to care less about solving a problem, and more about peddling their preferred solution.
i will believe it when I see it....
Recently, The Wind Company GAMESA moved out of my county of Bucks, P
Yeah, we all know how amazing STEEL is for the environment! not to mention the 33 full truckloads of CONCRETE needed for each turbine, plus massive dynamiting, bulldozing, trenching, roads systems, eminent domain, and SF6 spewing powerlines - Big Wind is GREAT!
Where is your plug for ROOFTOP SOLAR? it doesn't kill our wilderness, cut out when we need it most, constantly break down, require dynamite, roads, huge powerlines, cause increased global warming, force people from their homes, or destroy viewsheds. But it does create millions of jobs, improve property values, STABILIZE our grid (the opposite of Big Wind and Big Transmission), and it is actually democratic - imagine that. Imagine NOT shilling for Big Energy and instead trying to HELP THE PLANET WHILE HELPING THE PEOPLE. It would require fewer Big Energy dollars flowing to the coffers, fewer lavish junkets paid by Chevron and friends, fewer CEERT Big Solar "grants" to (ahem) educate conservationists about how great slaughtering ecosystems is for the planet. And yes, it would require integrity.
right, never mind.
Oh, and sheila, don't forget the toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing processes to make solar cells.
If green energy creates more jobs than "dirty" energy, doesn't that mean it's less efficient and therefore will be more expensive?
When the DOT-COM bust happened 11 years ago, a lot of people lost their shirts. Investments in junk stocks like walk-my-dog.com lost everything. Those stocks were worthless. But there were still some stocks that were based on real value, google, bestbuy, yahoo, etc., dropped in value but not to zero.
Last year, the mortgage backed securities crashed because of government required sub-prime mortgages, but not to zero. They were based on real estate that physically exists.
There has been atmospheric cooling the last 8 years, and no new high global annual temperatures in the last 11 years. When the carbon credit scheme goes bust, because earth decides to prove CO2 does not control climate, ALL carbon credits will be worthless. There will be no good carbon credits vs. bad carbon credits. Who will be holding these worthless credits after investing hundreds of billions of dollars? Power companies, manufacturers, bakeries, farmers, delivery companies, you name it. They will ALL go bankrupt.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
