More than 150 Businesses Across the U.S. Endorse Senator Sherrod Brown’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Bill, the IMPACT Act

As members of Congress headed home for summer break, dozens of businesses in their home states announced their support for legislation that would level the playing field for American manufacturers wanting to break into the clean energy economy. More than 150 businesses—from Washington and California in the West, to Michigan and Indiana in the Midwest, to Pennsylvania and Maryland on the East Coast—announced their endorsement of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act, which would ensure that new clean energy manufacturing jobs stay in the United States, rather than go abroad.

Clean Light Green Light is one of those businesses. The company manufactures fixtures for LEDs (light-emitting diodes, which are highly energy efficient light bulbs) in the U.S. and abroad. Clean Light Green Light is based in Michigan, which has been hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs for more than a decade as the state’s unemployment rate has risen to 15.2 percent—the highest in the country. Clean Light Green Light CEO David Mckinney, a former electrician, explained why his company endorsed the IMPACT Act:

“The clean energy sector is a bright spot in the Michigan economy right now. Markets for clean energy products are definitely expanding. For example, my company has LED fixtures going out to places like Sri Lanka and the Marshall Islands. But if we in Michigan were the people manufacturing those products, that would put us at the center of a worldwide clean energy movement. We can easily see where green technologies are being manufactured right now—overseas. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In Michigan, we have the skilled workforce that could manufacture clean energy components and systems here. What Michigan needs—and what small manufacturers need—is help getting loans and financing. The IMPACT Act can help Michigan clean energy manufacturing flourish.”

The IMPACT Act would establish a $30 billion revolving loan fund to help small and mid-sized firms retool, expand or establish domestic clean energy manufacturing operations and become more energy efficient. It would also provide the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a division of the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, with $1.5 billion in federal funds over five years to help manufacturers access clean energy markets and adopt innovative, energy-efficient manufacturing technologies. The Apollo Alliance estimates that the IMPACT Act will create or retain at least 680,000 direct manufacturing jobs and nearly 2 million indirect jobs over the next five years.

The support for manufacturers couldn’t come at a better time. The U.S. has lost 5.1 million manufacturing jobs in the past decade, many of them to other countries. The recent economic crisis has delivered an even sharper blow to the sector: in just the past six months, U.S. factories have laid off more than a million workers. Meanwhile, most new clean energy manufacturing jobs are being created in other countries. Right now, 70 percent of the equipment of the clean energy economy—solar panels, wind turbines, energy efficiency systems and the countless components that go into them—is manufactured overseas.

Bill Keith, founder of SunRise Solar, another business that has endorsed IMPACT, would like to see more of those jobs located in America. Keith is a former roofer whose solar-powered attic fan company tries to source all of its parts from suppliers close to home. He believes the clean energy economy is at a turning point, just as it was in the early 1900s during the transition from the horse-drawn carriage to the automobile:

“It reminds me of the story of Fisher Body in the early 1900s. They were used to making horse drawn carriages, but they were innovators, and saw the opportunity for making ’horseless carriage’ bodies for automobiles. So what did they do? They retooled and retrained, and became the world’s largest auto body manufacturer. That’s what American manufacturers can do right now. And if we don’t do it, other countries are going take the lead. The IMPACT Act and other clean energy legislation like the American Clean Energy and Security Act represent our best chance for making America the leader in renewable energy.”

Support for the IMPACT Act runs deep, with endorsements rolling in from distributors, manufacturers, installers, business service providers, consultants and others. Their lines of business range from solar technology development to the manufacture of components for hybrid automobiles to the distribution of window insulation. Several trade associations have also backed the IMPACT Act, such as the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Clean energy manufacturing jobs have been sorely overlooked in the national debate about green jobs. They should be front and center due not only to their potential for putting millions of Americans back to work at a time when the national unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in a quarter century, but also because they are high quality jobs that pay family-supporting wages and often include good benefits. Manufacturing jobs have historically been the entry point into the middle class for Americans who don’t have a college degree. Additionally, there is a higher union density among manufacturing workers than there is in most other sectors of the U.S. economy.

IMPACT endorser Gamesa is a Spanish company whose U.S. workers are unionized. Gamesa is one of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers and is proof positive of how clean energy policies like the IMPACT Act can drive green economy investments that in turn drive economic growth. According to Gamesa N.A. Director of Institutional Relations Michael Peck, “since selecting Pennsylvania as the site for its U.S. headquarters, East Coast development office and North American manufacturing facilities in September 2004, Gamesa has invested more than $200 million statewide. The company now employs 900 people nationwide and more than 800 in the commonwealth, including 564 at two Pennsylvania factories where workers are represented by the United Steelworkers union. This is the type of green manufacturing growth that should become more common with the passage of the IMPACT Act.”

When members of Congress return from their summer recess, the Senate will take up consideration of a clean energy and climate bill along the lines of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) that was passed by the House of Representatives in late June. Language based on the IMPACT Act was inserted into ACES at the 11th hour, helping secure the votes needed to ensure the bill’s passage. Including IMPACT in the Senate energy bill will provide a much-needed incentive for Senators from states that have been rocked by job and revenue losses over the past decade to vote in favor of a new national energy policy.

“Without a program to support our own domestic manufacturers, policies [like ACES] that create new demand for clean energy will just lead to more imports,” said Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides. “A healthy manufacturing sector is the key to middle class growth in this country. The IMPACT Act will help millions of Americans find work in well-paying clean energy jobs and greatly reduce our dependence on other nations to meet our energy needs.”