Blog Archive: February, 2007

The following was initially posted at The Huffington Post

America's governors have begun to throw down over who can become the most energy independent and bring in the most jobs. Will the presidential candidates be next?

Yesterday marked the end of a landmark event, the first Apollo Summit for Clean Energy & Good Jobs. The three-day conference of the Apollo Alliance brought together labor leaders, business executives, environmental advocates and community organizers to build a clean energy future that will create millions of good-paying, high-skill jobs.

The highlight of the Summit was when Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick pledged (see the video) to make his state a leader in renewable energy...

I don't just want the wind farms. I want the companies that build the turbines. I want the ones that assemble the hybrid vehicles and consult on the conservation strategies. I want the companies that design and manufacture the solar panels. The whole integrated industry ought to and can have a place in Massachusetts ... I really believe that if we get this right, the whole world will be our customer.

...and then Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (see the video) pledged to "arm wrestle" Patrick for those jobs:

Governor Patrick talks about bringing jobs to Massachusetts. We're going to arm wrestle you for those jobs because we want those same manufacturing plants.

This is not unhealthy cannibalization, scrapping over a handful of jobs. This is healthy competition that can create millions of jobs. As more governors invest in clean energy, there will be more jobs needed to satisfy the increased supply and demand.

For example, the Summit heard from Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (see the video), who lured the company Gamesa to build wind farms and manufacture turbines in his state. How? By approving legislation ensuring that the state will purchase enough renewable energy to make it worth Gamesa's while. And Gamesa returned the favor by partnering with the United Steelworkers, setting the stage for 1,000 new living wage, union jobs.

The kind of manufacturing jobs that America has been losing, weakening our economy.

Will we start seeing presidential candidates join governors in upping the ante?

Sen. Hillary Clinton fired an early shot, addressing the Apollo Summit (see the video) yesterday and announcing her plans for a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund. Her plan tells Big Oil to "pay or play," invest in alternative energy on its own, or be forced to contribute to the fund.

Also, Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed the Summit as well, and casually dropped that '08 hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd has signed on to his ambitious bill to slash greenhouse gas emissions 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. (Earlier this year, Senators Clinton and Barack Obama signed onto John McCain's bill to cut emissions two-thirds from 2004 levels by 2050.)

Tacking names onto bills is one thing. But will the candidates engage in productive one-upmanship? Can they, at this early stage of the campaign, generate attention for competing yet complementary ideas that advance the debate and help Speaker Nancy Pelosi meet her goal of passing global warming legislation on July 4th, Independence Day?

To help shape their ideas, all of the candidates can look to the Apollo Summit's sessions, such as:

-- How we can craft policy to create thriving markets for renewable fuels

-- How investment in green buildings creates hundreds of thousands of permanent, high-skill operation and maintenance jobs

-- How clean energy policies can grow urban economies and benefit all segments of American society

We're in for a long campaign season. If candidates spend the year squabbling over trivial matters, like the comments of some donor, voters will tune out and campaigns won't get traction.

But if candidates use the time to tackle the big issues that matter to voters, they'll be able to show off their leadership skills and help us bring about dramatic, substantive change.

It is hard to make the travesty of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver’s death more plain than reporter Mary Otto did in more »

The Apollo Alliance Summit took its campaign for energy independence and good jobs t more »

Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Bernie Sanders (VT) thanked Apollo Summiteers for coming to Capitol Hill and pressing their representatives to create good jobs by investing in renewable energy.

At a lunchtime event in the Senate, Sen. Sanders said of the labor-environmental partnership at the heart of the Apollo Alliance, "This is a marriage made in heaven. This is a marriage that will move heaven and earth." And Sen. Clinton noted it's a "tremendous asset" to bring together "those who care about the environment and those who care about the economy."

Both echoed the theme of the entire summit, as Sen. Sanders proclaimed "to be pro-environment is to be pro-jobs," while Sen. Clinton talked of job creation efforts in upstate New York involving biofuels, clean coal and green buildings.

Sen. Sanders touted his climate change legislation, slashing greenhouse gas emissions 80% (from 1990 levels) by 2050, as "most comprehensive global warming legislation" in the Senate. He noted that "some say it's too radical, but it may not be radical enough."

Sen. Clinton promoted her legislation to create a Strategic Energy Fund that would invest in clean technology and boost financial incentives, paid with the record profits of Big Oil: "we have to tell the oil companies to pay or play ... either invest more [on your own,] or pay into a strategic energy fund."

UPDATE: The NY Times blog "The Caucus" finds presidential implications in Sen. Clinton's remarks.

Also of presidential note, but unlikely to mentioned in the mainstream media: Sen. Sanders included Sen. Chris Dodd (CT), an '08 hopeful, among the co-sponsors of his ambitious global warming bill.

Apollo Summiteers are off to Capitol Hill today, meeting with congresspeople and their staffs and pressing for increased government support of renewable energy.

Before they took to the Hill, Rep. Jay Inslee (WA) addressed the Summit and deemed the Apollo Alliance the "most important coalition" in America today, because "this is a matter of our American destiny ... to lead the world in solving this global warming crisis."

Though he cautioned that without strong government policies to quickly create clean energy jobs, those jobs would go to other countries such as China, Germany, England and Denmark.

He argued that a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon dioxide emissions was needed to create those jobs. Otherwise, "companies use the atmosphere as their garbage dump for free."

Inslee characterized the debate as between "the optimists and pessimists," and Americans are "the greatest optimists in the world and the greatest innovators in the world."

And with that, the Apollo optimists headed to the Hill.

Monday night's dinner speakers offered a common theme: the future of our economy is tied to the future of our environment.

Keynote speaker Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell emphasized that the development of renewable energy is not just "a race for energy independence" but also "a race for economic superiority," where we will lose our strong economic position in the world if we drag our feet. "It is absolutely criminal that we are moving at a snail's pace." (Watch the video.)

Gov. Rendell pointed to the Gamesa wind energy project in Pennsylvania as a model. Gamesa representative Michael Peck already addressed the dinner audience, explaining how their "sustainable partnership" with the United Steelworkers is on its way to bring 1,000 good-pay, high-skill union jobs to the Keystone State.

(Check out this American Prospect piece for more about how the Gamesa project came to be.)

Sierra Club president Carl Pope refuted notions that a healthy environment is not compatible with a strong economy, asking aloud, "Can we have a good jobs without a good environment? No." AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka offered a vision of a sustainable economy, with fair trade policies lifting up global labor and environmental standards, and energy policies that rebuild America's manufacturing base. Trumka pronounced "it's time for an environmental intervention."

And Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer called for federal funding for cities so mayors can take the lead in creating clean energy jobs, warning that "we can no longer behave as if there aren't any consequences from inaction." (See this US Conference of Mayors press release for more.)

Oh, it's on.

After Gov. Deval Patrick declared his intention to make Massachusetts the capital of renewable energy, Gov. Bill Ritter threw down the gauntlet on behalf of his Colorado.

Patrick, who won election promising support for a groundbreaking wind farm off of Cape Cod, announced yesterday (watch the video):

I don't just want the wind farms. I want the companies that build the turbines. I want the ones that assemble the hybrid vehicles and consult on the conservation strategies. I want the companies that design and manufacture the solar panels. The whole integrated industry ought to and can have a place in Massachusetts ... I really believe that if we get this right the whole world will be our customer.

Then Ritter (watch the video) upped the ante:

Governor Patrick talks about bringing jobs to Massachusetts. We're going to arm wrestle you for those jobs because we want those same manufacturing plants.

This competition is nothing but healthy for our energy future, as Ritter noted:

...that's a good thing to have two governors competing for those jobs, competing in this industry to build out the turbines competing, to have the wind farms located in their state. That's the right way for us to think about it.

Check out coverage of the trash talk at Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boston Globe, Greeley Tribune and the Associated Press.

UPDATE: Colorado Confidential writes, "Unfortunately, watching the videotaped speeches of Gov. Ritter and Gov. Patrick, it’s impossible to tell, inside those suits and standing behind a podium, who will be the likely winner."

Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel of the AFL-CIO stunned the room this afternoon, announcing that while there's $160 trillion of fossil fuels currently underground, the economic costs of unchecked climate change will total between $700 and $1,400 trillion -- possibly causing a global depression.

Silvers said that's why the AFL-CIO backs investing union pension assets into clean energy funds -- because you're not responsibly investing for the future, if you're not investing in a sustainable future.

Further, Tom Croft of the Heartland Network stressed that it's important for unions to control their assets and invest in sustainable projects that will create good jobs.

Investment experts at the "Moving Labor & Public Pension Funds into Clean Energy Investments" panel assured attendees that the rapid growth of the clean energy market means it's easier to create financially sound, diversified portfolios.

In turn, there is no trade-off between investing green and making green. With the help of folks who know the energy industry , it's not hard to do both.

And since there are hundreds of billions of dollars in union pension funds, a clean energy investment strategy may have significant impact.

This morning's "Policies and Partnerships for a Clean Power Future" session found wide agreement from union officials and business leaders on how we should reform our energy policies.

Todd Foley of BP Solar and Jim Gordon of Cape Wind both lamented the "start and stop" nature of our government's involvement in promoting renewable energy.

Gordon advocated long-term policies, including tax incentives for production and power-purchasing agreements with utilities, while IBEW Local 103's Marty Aikens supported residential tax credits .

Lee Smith of the National Photovoltaic Construction Partnership pushed for state and local governments to create more demand by purchasing clean energy from domestic manufacturers. Foley concurred that if smart policies create domestic markets, home-grown manufacturing will make good business sense.

By retrofitting our nation's buildings to make them energy efficient, we can improve the environment, save consumers money, create good-paying union jobs, and reduce poverty.

That's the word from the panelists at today's "High Performance Buildings & Job Creation" session.

Don Gilligan of the National Association of Energy Services Companies told the crowd that a $7 billion annual investment would save consumers $22 billion in energy costs by 2017, while also creating 400,000 jobs annually.

Steve Cowell of the non-profit consultant Conservation Services Group explained that the new jobs would not come and go after buildings get retrofitted, but good-paying high-skill permanent jobs would be created to operate and manage energy efficient buildings.

And that's a good fit for unions.

And Elsa Barboza of the grassroots Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education, and of the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance, talked of how green buildings can strengthen unions and tackle poverty on a mass scale.

Her team is striving to secure $100 million in public funds to retrofit 100 municipal buildings and create 2,000 union jobs.