New Reports Show Cleaner Transit Manufactures Jobs
This week, two reports documented the job creation potential of increased U.S. investments in public transit. The Apollo Alliance has long promoted public transit as a key component of our clean energy agenda, because of its effectiveness in reducing transportation-related oil use and greenhouse gas emissions. Public transit is especially important this year, because the national transportation bill has expired and will need to be re-authorized in the near future. The transportation bill presents a unique opportunity to reexamine U.S. transportation policy with an eye toward the twin goals of cleaner transportation and good jobs.
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| Photo credit: American Solving Inc |
The first report, which was prepared by the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) for the Apollo Alliance, focused exclusively on rail transit, which is expected to undergo considerable growth in the coming years, as Amtrak upgrades its railcars and adds high-speed trains, and as lawmakers consider a transportation bill that calls for significantly greater investments in public transit, including rail. It looked at the manufacture of U.S. rail vehicles and their component parts and found that the U.S. rail supply chain includes 247 manufacturing facilities in 35 states.
“Our research found that while there is already a healthy chain of U.S.-based manufacturing locations that produce components and systems for rail cars, the sector still has plenty of room to grow if the next federal transportation bill prioritizes public transit and rail investments,” said Marcy Lowe, a senior research analyst at the CGGC and the report’s lead author.
The states with the most manufacturing facilities—New York (32 rail manufacturing facilities), Pennsylvania (26), Illinois (23), California (22) and Ohio (13)—would reap major benefits from such a bill. “These states have a real chance to be at the center of America’s 21st century rail manufacturing industry,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance. “Our nation needs a new transportation policy that invests in expanded public transit and more energy-efficient transportation, including rail. Done right, these investments could mean a windfall of rail manufacturing jobs across the country.”
The full report is available at apolloalliance.org and at cggc.duke.edu.
The other public transit report that was released this week backed up the Duke study’s finding that increased public transit investments will create more U.S. manufacturing jobs. In a report called The Job Impact of Transportation Reauthorization, the Economic Policy Institute looked at the job creation potential of two different transportation bills funded at the level of $500 billion—one with the current mix of transportation investments and one that invests more heavily in repair and maintenance, public transportation and livable communities. EPI found that the public-transit friendly bill, which is based on a proposal that’s been put forward by Transportation for America, would yield 400,000 more jobs over the six-year life of the law, for a total of more than 7.2 million jobs. 761,000 of those jobs would be in manufacturing.
The analysis also found that the Transportation for America investment strategy would especially benefit those hardest hit by the recession, including low-wage workers and Americans without a college degree. Approximately 80 percent of the new jobs created would be filled by Americans without a four-year degree. The proposal also would create jobs at a higher level of unionization (15 percent) than the overall economy (12 percent).
“This study shows why America needs a new direction in our transportation policy,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “Cleaner and smarter transportation investments will create millions of good-paying, quality jobs and put our nation on a path to a lasting economic recovery.”
The full study is available at the EPI website.
Stay tuned for more information on the link between clean transportation and good jobs, which is the focus of Apollo’s ongoing Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan project.
One Year Ago, the House Passed Historic Clean Energy and Climate Legislation
On June 26, 2009—one year ago tomorrow—the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, a bill that put a cap and price on carbon emissions, created a national renewable energy standard, upgraded U.S. energy-efficiency standards, and created a revolving loan fund to support clean energy manufacturing, among many other measures.
At the time, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass, a key sponsor of the legislation and chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said, “Today the House has passed the most important energy and environment bill in our nation’s history. Scientists say that global warming is a dangerous man-made problem. Today we are saying clean energy will be the American-made solution. This legislation will create jobs by the millions, save money by the billions, and unleash investment in clean energy by the trillions.”
Three hundred and sixty-four days later, America has yet to reap the benefits of this bill’s passage. Why? Because the Senate hasn’t even begun debating a clean energy and climate bill. All signs point to a Senate debate this summer over some kind of an energy bill, but it is still unclear what will be included in the bill. Meanwhile, another year has slipped by.
That year has seen increasing evidence of climate change and the grave threat it poses to our planet. In a recent weekly update, we let you know about the State Department Fifth Climate Action Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. According to the report, “climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow.”
Just this week, another report on climate change found that—despite what climate change deniers would have us believe—97 percent of the world’s most widely published climate scientists accept the evidence for global warming and agree that it is caused by human activities.
This year has also seen the U.S. falling behind in the global clean energy race, with our failure to adopt national clean energy policies costing us jobs. GE is expanding its wind manufacturing, engineering and service facilities—not in the U.S., but in Europe. BP Solar shut down a solar manufacturing facility that employed hundreds of workers in Maryland and moved the plant to China. Examples like this abound.
A Pew Charitable Trusts report published in March explained that a country’s climate and energy policy decisions directly impact its competitive position in the global clean energy economy. According to the report, “Those nations—such as China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain—with strong, national policies aimed at reducing global warming pollution and incentivizing the use of renewable energy are establishing stronger competitive positions in the clean energy economy.”
Who’s winning the clean energy race? Well, last year China invested $34.6 billion in the clean energy economy—nearly double what the U.S. invested. And over the last five years, the U.S. also trailed Turkey, Brazil, China, the U.K. and Italy in the rate of clean-energy investment growth.
The passage of ACES one year ago was indeed an extraordinary victory. But now we need to make sure the Senate does its part, for the good of our environment and our economy.
In Other News …
*Read our latest clean energy success story. Algaeventure Systems of Ohio is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough that would revolutionize renewable energy production. The company has developed a technology to extract algae from water at a cost that is 99 percent less than it was using previous technologies, which means algae could become a viable commercial biofuel. Learn more by reading Unleashing Algae Energy: Algaeventure Systems a Model of Innovation in Ohio.
*Join the Apollo Team! Apollo is seeking two new staff members to help us achieve our clean energy, good jobs mission. We are looking for an entrepreneurial, energetic and experienced public relations professional to serve as our national Communications Director. We are also seeking a skilled, experienced, organized and energetic person with strong research and writing skills to work as our Senior Policy Associate. Check out the job listings for more information.
Unleashing Algae Energy: Algaeventure Systems a Model of Innovation in Ohio
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| Photo credit: Algaeventure Systems |
Algaeventure Systems (AVS) is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough that would revolutionize renewable energy production. Founded in 2008, the Ohio-based spinoff of plastics manufacturer Univenture has already built an innovative Harvesting, Dewatering, and Drying (HDD) system. Their HDD technology overcomes one of the biggest hurdles in commercializing algae as a viable biofuel replacement for petroleum-based fuel: efficiently extracting algae from the water in which it grows. By drawing on the natural principles of cohesion, transpiration and osmosis – that is, mimicking water’s ascent up plant stems – it reduces extraction costs by more than 99 percent, from $875 per ton to $1.92 per ton. While other extraction techniques can add $5.71 to $22.20 to the cost of a gallon of algae oil, Algaeventure’s process adds only 12 cents per gallon. Read more
New study shows several states poised to benefit economically if next U.S. transportation bill invests in public transit
Duke University analysis of U.S. rail manufacturing shows that U.S. rail supply chain includes 247 manufacturing facilities across 35 states
DURHAM, NC –The U.S. rail manufacturing industry stands to undergo considerable growth in the coming years, as Amtrak upgrades its railcars and adds high-speed trains, and as lawmakers consider a transportation bill that calls for significantly greater investments in public transit, including rail, according to a new study by Duke University prepared for the Apollo Alliance. States like New York, Pennsylvania and California, which are home to a combined 80 rail-manufacturing facilities, would reap major benefits from such a bill.
“Our research found that while there is already a healthy chain of U.S. manufacturing locations that produce components and systems for rail cars, the sector still has plenty of room to grow if the next federal transportation bill prioritizes public transit and rail investments,” said Marcy Lowe, a senior research analyst at the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) and the report’s lead author.
The report, U.S. Manufacture of Rail Vehicles for Intercity Passenger Rail and Urban Transit: A Value Chain Analysis, looks at the manufacture of U.S. rail vehicles in six categories: intercity passenger, high speed, regional, metro, light rail and streetcars. It finds that the U.S. rail supply chain includes at least 247 manufacturing locations in 35 states. The states with the most manufacturing facilities are New York (32 rail manufacturing facilities), Pennsylvania (26), Illinois (23), California (22) and Ohio (13). Although the U.S. rail manufacturing industry is small—the report’s authors estimate its employment at between 10,000 and 14,000 employees—industry analysts expect it to grow due to pent-up demand for intercity and urban rail service.
“These states have a real chance to be at the center of America’s 21st century rail manufacturing industry,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance. “Our nation needs a new transportation policy that invests in expanded public transit and more energy-efficient transportation, including rail. Done right, these investments could mean a windfall of rail manufacturing jobs across the country.“
Another study released today, by Transportation for America and the Economic Policy Institute, finds that a $500 billion transportation bill that invests heavily in public transit will create 7.2 million jobs across the economy, including 761,321 manufacturing jobs, of which 168,024 jobs would be located in the rail manufacturing sector. To read the full report, visit www.t4america.org.
The Duke report’s authors conclude that growing the U.S. rail manufacturing industry will require committing much larger and more consistent U.S. investments to intercity passenger and urban transit rail. The report also recommends that Buy America provisions be improved through additional accountability mechanisms and the closing of loopholes. Finally, it recommends that policymakers and manufacturers implement measures to capture higher-value activities in the supply chain, such as design and engineering, for the U.S. market. Currently those activities are mostly performed abroad.
The full report is available at apolloalliance.org and at cggc.duke.edu.
CONTACT: Sam Haswell: (415) 371-1700 x201
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The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of unlikely and diverse interests – including labor, business, environmental, and community leaders – advancing a bold vision for the next American economy centered on clean energy and good jobs.
UPS: A Pioneer in Hybrid-Electric Vehicles
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| Photo courtesy of UPS. |
What if a delivery company could reduce air pollution by taking 100 trucks off the road, create good jobs for Americans, and deliver packages to your door just as fast as before? The United Parcel Service (UPS) is doing just that, thanks to its growing fleet of hybrid-electric delivery trucks. Read more
Clean Energy Gets President Obama’s Attention and Public’s Support
This week, the transition to a clean energy economy made the front page of newspapers across the country after President Obama’s Oval Office speech about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in which he told the country that “the tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.”
The president said that past efforts to end the U.S. addiction to fossil fuels had been blocked by oil industry lobbyists as well as a lack of political courage and candor, and he urged the Senate (without naming it) to join the House of Representatives in passing comprehensive clean energy measures. “I am happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party – as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development – and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.
“All of these approaches have merit, and deserve a fair hearing in the months ahead. But the one approach I will not accept is inaction.”
Conspicuously lacking from the president’s remarks was any mention of putting a cap and price on carbon emissions, which is a key tool by which to give businesses an incentive to move away from carbon-intensive products and activities and toward clean energy.
The president’s speech was delivered during a week when several new polls revealed increased public support for clean energy and climate policies. On Monday, the Pew Research Center and National Journal released the results of their newest poll, which was conducted from June 10-13. Eighty-seven percent of the more than 1,000 people polled favored including a provision in comprehensive energy legislation that requires utilities to produce more energy from wind, solar or other renewable sources. More than three quarters (78 percent) of poll respondents favored tougher efficiency standards for buildings and major appliances. And 66 percent supported setting limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in comprehensive energy legislation.
A poll that was conducted the first week in June by the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University found similar support for government action on clean energy and climate. Of 1,000 respondents, 86 percent said they wanted the federal government to limit the amount of air pollution that businesses emit, and 76 percent favored government limits on greenhouse gas emissions generated by businesses. Only 14 percent said that the U.S. should not take action to combat global warming unless other industrial countries like China and India do so as well.
Finally, a national survey of 800 small business owners—conducted on behalf of Small Business Majority, American Businesses for Clean Energy and We Can Lead—showed that there is strong support for clean energy and climate legislation among small businesses, especially among Latino- and African American-owned businesses. Sixty-one percent of small-business owners polled said they believe that moving the country to clean energy is a way to restart the economy and help small businesses create jobs. And a surprising result—considering the national Chamber of Commerce’s opposition—was that 60 percent of local chamber of commerce members support clean energy and climate change legislation. Additionally, 60 percent of Latino and 78 percent of African-American small-business owners support clean energy and climate legislation.
Between President Obama’s encouragement and the growing public support, the Senate should be confident in taking decisive action this summer to move the U.S. toward a clean energy, good jobs economy. Whether the Senate will seize the moment has yet to be determined.
Photo courtesy of kd1s.
EPA and Other Analyses Look at Economic Impacts of the American Power Act
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency released an analysis of the American Power Act, authored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., that looked at its impact on consumers and found that the bill will reduce consumers’ energy bills through 2030, due to improved energy efficiency from a price on carbon. The EPA analysis also found that the American Power Act would keep overall household costs to a minimum for the life of the bill—between $79 and $146 per year. You can read the analysis on the EPA website.
Another analysis released this week by the ClimateWorks Foundation found that average employment levels under the American Power Act will be 440,000 higher between 2012 and 2020 than under a business-as-usual scenario, and 540,000 higher between 2012 and 2030. The ClimateWorks study also looked at consumer impacts and found that the American Power Act will save consumers $35 on their annual household utility bills through 2020. Click here to read the study.
In other news …
*Join the Apollo Alliance on Sept. 30 at the Right Stuff Awards Dinner! Every year, the Apollo Alliance honors four individuals whose work exemplifies our mission of creating a new clean energy economy. This year, our awards dinner will be held on Thursday, Sept. 30, at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. Please join us for a great night! Check out our Right Stuff Awards webpage for more information.
*Grants awarded to veterans green jobs training programs. This week, the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service announced that 22 grants totaling more than $9 million are being awarded to programs that provide veterans with green jobs training. The grants will allow organizations to provide job training, counseling and other services to some 4,000 veterans. Check out the DOL website for a list of the grantees.
*New Study on Economic Benefits of High-Speed Rail. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has released a study called The Economic Impacts of High-Speed Rail on Cities and Their Metropolitan Areas. The study looked at Orlando, Los Angeles, Chicago and Albany, NY, and found that all of these cities will see significant job, wage, business sales and gross regional product benefits with the introduction of high-speed rail. Read the study here.
*United Steelworkers and American Wind Energy Association Announce Agreement. Following months of news reports about wind and solar manufacturing jobs locating overseas, the United Steelworkers and American Wind Energy Association have announced that they will be creating a “Partnership for Progress” to accelerate the creation of U.S. wind energy manufacturing jobs. You can read the agreement on the USW website.
Clean Energy and Climate Policy Chaos in Washington, DC
This week provided little clarity about the future of U.S. climate and clean energy policies. Senators introduced new energy bills, announced their opposition to legislation they had formerly supported, and provided few clues as to which policies might actually get debated this summer. Meanwhile, time is running out to adopt strong clean energy and climate measures before election season arrives and we go another year without climate and clean energy action.
On Wednesday, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., introduced a new energy bill called the Practical Energy and Climate Plan. The legislation includes vehicle efficiency standards and energy efficiency standards for buildings, provides matching funds to help states establish industrial efficiency revolving loan programs, and expands loan guarantees for nuclear power, among other measures. It does not put a cap or price on carbon emissions, a key mechanism for driving investment away from carbon-intensive activities and into clean energy. And the renewable energy standard included in the bill contains significant loopholes that would allow utilities to pay an alternative compliance fee instead of developing renewable energy.
Many environmental groups noted that Sen. Lugar’s bill did not go nearly far enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Public health groups also objected to a section of the bill that would exempt coal-fired power plants from some of the pollution control requirements in the Clean Air Act. As the American Lung Association stated, “Americans should not have to wait another day –let alone nearly another decade –for cleaning up lethal air pollution from coal-fired power plant. The Senate must not halt the installation of lifesaving modern pollution control equipment.”
In a surprising move, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who had previously collaborated with Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on the American Power Act, announced that he would support Lugar’s bill and oppose the American Power Act, which he helped develop.
With the addition of Lugar’s energy bill, there are now numerous clean energy and climate bills at play, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to announce which bill will be serve as the basis for this summer’s Senate clean energy and climate debate. On Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told MSNBC that the Senate would be debating an energy-only bill that was approved by the Senate Natural Resources Committee last summer, and that the American Power Act’s cap on carbon emissions would only be considered as an amendment. But by Tuesday, Sen. Schumer had revised his statement, and Sen. Reid announced that no decision had been made yet on which climate and clean energy measures the Senate will take up. The confusion and indecision continued even after a meeting of key committee chairs on Thursday, intended to flesh out the Senate’s strategy to move energy legislation forward this year.
Photo courtesy of Fibonacci Blue.
Murkowski Resolution Defeated
Also this week in Washington, DC, the Senate defeated Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. You can read more about the resolution, which would have severely undermined the Clean Air Act, at the Apollo Alliance blog. While this is great news, it is tempered by the fact that a similar resolution, which would delay EPA action for two years, is expected to come up for a vote at a future date.
For the sake of our environment and economy, the Apollo Alliance urges the Senate to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate measures, including a cap on carbon emissions, THIS YEAR. Each day our national leaders fail to act, we fall further behind in the race to lead the global clean energy economy. Further delay also means we are doing nothing to avoid future tragedies akin to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It’s time to move toward a clean energy, good jobs future.
In Contrast, U.S. Military Moves Toward Orderly Embrace of Clean Energy
Last week, the Office of Naval Research announced that it will award grants of up to $100,000 to each of nine projects that will help the Navy reduce its carbon footprint. Dr. Kam Ng, ONR’s deputy director of research, said, “The success of these projects will translate to helping the Navy decrease its reliance on petroleum and reduce its carbon footprint in support of the Secretary of the Navy’s strategy for a greener force.”
The announcement brings into stark contrast the difference between the fitful path of clean energy and climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate and the orderly adoption of clean energy in the U.S. military.
The Department of Defense has a number of reasons for embracing clean energy. One is the threat that climate change poses to American national security. Military experts have concluded that climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the world’s most volatile regions and will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world (see National Security and the Threat of Climate Change). Another reason for the DOD’s embrace of clean energy is its high level of energy use. The DOD accounts for nearly 80 percent of the U.S. government’s total energy consumption, due to the large amounts of fuel needed to power military vehicles and aircraft, and the electricity needed to operate thousands of buildings, including military bases.
In late April 2010, the Pew Charitable Trusts released a report called Reenergizing America’s Defense about the DOD’s efforts to improve its energy efficiency and switch to cleaner sources of energy. The DOD has a goal of producing or procuring 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and each division of the armed forces has major clean energy projects underway.
For example, Navy officials plan to have half of the service’s fuel use come from non-fossil sources by 2020; the army is constructing a 500-megawatt solar power generation plant in California; and the Marine Corps has launched a campaign aimed at reducing energy intensity, water consumption, and the use of renewable energy.
“Everywhere you go, you see that the American GI is figuring out how to save energy,” said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a former Navy secretary. “Every base in the country has a plan to save energy. This whole Defense Department is mobilized and thinking green, and I salute their efforts.”
This is not to say that all is wine and roses between the U.S. military and renewable energy projects. For example, the DOD has tried to stop some wind projects that it says interfere with military radar. However, it does show that where there’s a will, there’s a way. If the U.S. military can adopt a 25 percent renewable energy standard, why can’t the U.S. Senate?
In other news …
* Clean Light Green Light CEO Nominated for America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneur. Apollo Alliance friend David McKinney, CEO of Michigan-based Clean Light Green Light, has been chosen by BusinessWeek as one of 25 individuals who are competing to be America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneur. McKinney is a former electrician whose company manufactures fixtures for LEDs (light-emitting diodes, which are highly energy efficient light bulbs). You can vote for McKinney, who is a big supporter of U.S. manufacturing and produces three product lines in Michigan, and learn more about him and the other nominees at BusinessWeek’s website.
*Johnson Controls plans to add 17,000 green building employees. On Thursday morning Johnson Controls of Glendale, Wisc., a leading company in the area of building energy efficiency, told clean tech analysts that it plans to add 17,000 employees around the world over the next five years to meet increasing demand for buildings to be more energy efficient and to produce their own renewable energy. Read more about the growing green buildings market in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
*Protest the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. This week, Moveon.org and 350.org organized more than 190 events across the United States to demand an end to America’s oil dependence, call for stepped up efforts to end the oil spill, and stand in solidarity with impacted Gulf Coast communities. Another day of action, Hands Across the Sand, is being planned for June 26. People around the world will go to their local beaches and join hands and say NO to offshore oil drilling and YES to clean energy. Go to the Hands Across the Sand website to get involved.
Oil Spill Increases Urgency for Climate and Clean Energy Action
Apollo Alliance board member and former President Jerome Ringo, who lives in Louisiana, wrote the below op-ed three weeks after the oil rig explosion that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As of this writing, the oil spill is entering its seventh week and is continuing to wreak havoc on Gulf Coast industries, workers, wildlife and precious habitats. Yet we still don’t know if it has provided the U.S. Senate the wake-up call it needs to act this summer to shift our country to cleaner, safer sources of energy.
You can learn more about whether or not the Senate will debate a clean energy and climate change bill this summer by reading our most recent Apollo Alliance weekly update.
You can also use our website to send a fax to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to tell him: Now is the moment to act decisively on clean energy and climate legislation, but let’s do it right! Let’s fulfill the job-creation potential of new clean energy policies by investing in America’s clean energy businesses and workforce.
Oil spill should mobilize a national shift toward clean energy
Jerome Ringo, News Tribune, May 19, 2010
As someone who worked for more than 20 years in Louisiana’s oil fields and petrochemical industry, I am sad to say I was not surprised by the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
During my youth, I saw bayous contaminated by toxic chemicals that destroyed the fish and other wildlife that should have been living there.
As an adult, I saw the health of my fellow workers and community members jeopardized by polluted air and water.
Now, as more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil pour into the Gulf of Mexico each day, I see the jobs that will be lost, the families and communities that will suffer and the impending devastation of our $2 billion seafood industry.
Think about the fishermen, the truck drivers, the restaurant owners and so many others who depend on this industry. Think also about the fish, birds, sea turtles and other marine life whose ecosystem has just been turned on its head.
There is a better way: clean energy.
While many countries have already embraced clean energy and adopted national policies to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewables, the United States continues to suffer from a reactive, outdated energy strategy.
It’s been nearly a year since the U.S. House of Representatives passed its energy and climate bill (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), but the Senate has yet to begin serious debate on its own legislation.
Our policymakers are fiddling while Rome burns — or rather, while oil rigs burn and pollute our oceans and coasts.
Not only is America’s refusal to embrace clean energy endangering human health and wildlife, it is also costing us jobs, which are precious commodities in this time of economic hardship.
Several energy companies, including GE and BP Solar, recently announced plans to invest millions of dollars to develop and expand clean energy facilities — not in the United States, where such investments and the jobs they bring are desperately needed — but in Europe and China. We need incentives for green energy jobs here at home.
Now is the time for the Senate to act. With photos of the oil spill on the front pages of newspapers across the country, Americans are starting to grasp the dangers of our country’s dependence on oil and other dirty sources of energy, and this awareness is being transformed into support for a new energy direction for our country.
What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragedy, plain and simple. But it will be even more tragic if we fail to learn from the oil spill and if we refuse to adopt new energy policies that will increase public health and safety while creating a new generation of clean energy jobs.
Let’s not wait for the death of another oil worker or the image of one more oil-drenched bird or the announcement of one more business shutting its doors before we commit to making the United States a clean energy leader.
Jerome Ringo, former president and current board member of the Apollo Alliance, is senior executive for global strategies for Green Port, a private company that focuses on establishing sustainable green ports around the world. He wrote this for the Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues.
Will the Senate debate climate and clean energy legislation this summer?
Six weeks after the explosion that caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history, millions of gallons of oil are still spilling into the ocean and wreaking increasing havoc on Gulf Coast industries, workers, wildlife and precious habitats. And three weeks after Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced their climate and clean energy bill, the American Power Act, the question remains: will the oil spill give senators the wake-up call they need to act this summer to shift our country to cleaner, safer sources of energy?
This week there were glimmers of hope about forthcoming Senate action. President Obama has finally begun to publicly link the catastrophe of the oil spill to the need for the U.S. to end its dependence on fossil fuels and transition to a clean energy economy. On Wednesday, in a speech at Carnegie Mellon University, he said, “If we refuse to take into account the full costs of our fossil fuel addiction — if we don’t factor in the environmental costs and the national security costs and the true economic costs — we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future.
“The House of Representatives has already passed a comprehensive energy and climate bill, and there is currently a plan in the Senate — a plan that was developed with ideas from Democrats and Republicans — that would achieve the same goal. And, Pittsburgh, I want you to know, the votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months. I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can. I will work with anyone to get this done — and we will get it done.”
According to a press release from Senators Kerry and Lieberman, the Carnegie Mellon speech was the fourth time in less than two weeks that the president has publicly urged the Senate to swiftly take up clean energy and climate legislation.
Meanwhile, next week, the Environmental Protection Agency will release its analysis of the economic impact of the American Power Act, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will decide whether the Act gets onto the Senate’s summer calendar. On Thursday Sen. Reid sent a letter to eight key Senators telling them he wants them to figure out how to address the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in a clean energy bill to be debated before the August recess, but it’s still unclear whether that bill will be one that puts a price on carbon, or a scaled back “energy only” bill.
In addition to the hundreds of environmental and social justice groups, labor unions, and city and state policymakers that have been urging Senate action on clean energy and climate issues this summer, increasing numbers of businesses are joining the effort. Two weeks ago, we let you know that more than 6,0000 large and small businesses had expressed support for comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, according to a report by American Business for Clean Energy and the We Can Lead campaign. This week, more businesses came out in support of strong national clean energy and climate policies. The Outdoor Industry Association, whose members include REI, Patagonia, North Face, Levi Strauss and LL Bean, among others, announced it was becoming a member of Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), a business coalition that already includes the likes of Best Buy, Nike, Symantec, Target, eBay, Starbucks and others.
Our country—and the world—cannot wait another year or more for a new U.S. energy policy. The Apollo Alliance joins with the many other organizations and individuals that are urging Senate action NOW.
Photo credit: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
House Passes Legislation That Would Support Clean Energy Innovation
On May 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 in a 262 to 150 vote. For clean energy advocates who have been concerned about the U.S. falling behind in the global clean energy race, the bill is an important step toward improving America’s competitive position by increasing our investments in science, innovation and education.
The Apollo Alliance’s New Apollo Program, our comprehensive economic investment strategy to build America’s 21st century clean energy economy, called for a major initiative to restore the United States’ technological leadership. According to the NAP, “The new clean energy economy will be built on innovation. The rich scientific and technical resources of American universities, private-sector investors, and national laboratories have been responsible for significant breakthroughs in building efficiency, solar panels, wind turbines, carbon sequestration and other clean energy and environmental technologies. Yet funding for basic energy research and development has not kept up.”
The America COMPETES Act would address this by doubling authorized funding levels over 10 years for the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy Office of Science, and National Institute of Standards and Technology. It would also re-authorize funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Department of Energy program that was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and for Energy Innovation Hubs, among other measures.
“The path is simple,” said Congressman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., who chairs the House Committee on Science and Technology. “Research and education lead to innovation. Innovation leads to economic development and good paying jobs and the revenue to pay for more research. And as private firms under-invest in research and development because the returns are too far off in the future, there is a clear and necessary role of government to help our nation keep pace with the rest of the world.”
An additional and critical component of the America COMPETES Act is its support for manufacturing. According to a December 2009 White House report on manufacturing, the manufacturing sector is responsible for 70 percent of all private-sector research and development spending. America COMPETES would increase funding for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, which helps small to mid-sized manufacturers make improvements in areas like technology acceleration, supplier development, sustainability and workforce. MEP programs can support manufacturers in accessing clean energy markets and adopting innovative, energy-efficient manufacturing technologies. Increased support for the MEP program was recommended in Apollo’s Green Manufacturing Action Plan and is also part of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Technology (IMPACT) Act.
The COMPETES Act still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate before it becomes law. To learn more about how the Act could increase America’s clean energy competitiveness, read the new report by the Breakthrough Institute, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.
In other news …
*Support the EPA’s Plan to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions. As we reported last week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced that her “resolution of disapproval” to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases will come up for a vote on June 10. There’s still time to email your senators through the 1Sky website to urge them to stand up for the Clean Air Act by voting against Murkowski. Click here to email your senators today. In related news, this week the National Association of Manufacturers and 19 other business organizations filed a petition in federal appeals court challenging the EPA’s plan to regulate GHGs.
*Read our newest clean energy success story! Milwaukee, Wisc., has met with some recent successes in its efforts to attract clean energy manufacturers to the city. Ingeteam, a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, has chosen Milwaukee as the location for a new manufacturing facility that will employ 270 workers. Talgo, a high-speed rail car manufacturer, has also decided to locate in Milwaukee, where it will open an assembly plant with 125 workers at the site of a former pick-up truck manufacturing facility. Find out more by reading Milwaukee’s Skilled Workforce Attracts Clean Energy Industry.
