IMPACT Act Key to Domestic Clean Energy Job Creation

Senate Set to Start Energy and Climate Change Deliberations
Following quickly in the footsteps of the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the historic American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act on June 26, the Senate began discussions this week of its own energy and climate legislation. California Senator Barbara Boxer, who is expected to introduce a comprehensive climate and energy bill shortly after Labor Day, presided over a committee hearing that featured four top Obama administration officials touting the legislation’s potential to spur the growth of the clean energy economy.

Boxer told California radio station KPCC that the California economy is benefiting from her state’s cutting-edge energy efficiency and climate change measures: “In California, which has been one of the hardest hit by the housing crisis and the financial crisis, the area that has out-performed every other has been the creation of clean energy jobs and businesses.”

IMPACT Act key to domestic clean energy job creation in Senate energy bill
As Apollo Alliance supporters know, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio recently introduced a plan to create and keep clean energy manufacturing jobs in America. Brown’s Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Energy Technology Act (IMPACT) Act of 2009 – modeled on Apollo’s Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP) – would ensure that increased demand for clean energy that results from a new national energy policy is met by American workers producing the parts, systems and components of the clean energy economy. The bill would establish a $30 billion revolving loan fund designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers improve their energy efficiency, retrain workers for clean energy manufacturing jobs, and retool plants in order to expand into the clean energy supply chain. Apollo estimates that the IMPACT Act will create nearly 2.5 million jobs to support new and expanded manufacturing operations across the country.

A measure nearly identical to the IMPACT Act was inserted into the House energy bill at the 11th hour—thanks to the advocacy efforts of Apollo Alliance members and many others—and helped secure its passage.

This week Apollo Alliance is working hard to secure IMPACT Act endorsements from businesses across the country. Support has already come in from companies in several different states, but we still have a ways to go to meet our goal of 100 endorsements. Please help us by clicking here to add your or your company’s support.

Need local, clean energy success stories? Check out our “Signature Stories” web page.
We all hear plenty of talk about the job creation potential of the clean energy economy, but being able to point to real clean energy success stories is the best way to make your case to policy makers and potential allies. Fortunately, those stories are just a mouse click away—on the Apollo Alliance website in our “Signature Stories” section.

Using our interactive map, you can find great local examples of companies that are creating high-quality, union jobs in the clean energy economy; community-labor-management coalitions that have developed model green jobs training programs; and local governments that have identified innovative ways to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that benefit consumers.

For example, in Park Falls, Wisconsin, Flambeau River Paper is going to power its paper mill using energy from the biomass plant that it is building next door. The biomass plant will turn wood scraps into steam, which the company will sell to the paper mill. This creative clean energy venture allowed the paper plant to re-open after it had been shut down by its previous owners; 70 percent of the laid-off workers were re-hired and their union wages, benefits and seniority were honored.

In Memphis, Tennessee, there’s a great example of a manufacturing plant that’s been re-tooled to manufacture solar panels. The plant used to make televisions, but Sharp Electronics converted it to solar production, and now it generates enough electricity to power 14,000 homes. The company’s 190 workers are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

To learn more about these success stories and many others that can be found in communities throughout the United States, click here.

Also, be sure to tune into Air America this weekend to hear Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides discuss the green-collar economy and how to make it a reality.

You can keep track of the quickening pace of state and federal action on clean energy policy on our Apollo Blog and Daily Digest.