Last week, the Minnesota State Energy Sector Partnership held an event at the State Capitol in St. Paul to highlight the success of the grantees of their three-year, $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The partnership was funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The BlueGreen Alliance Foundation’s Anoka Green and Minnesota Green programs were among the grantees that received funding from the grant and their successes were highlighted during the daylong event. 

Jerome Balsimo, Training Manager for the GreenPOWER program, was on hand at the event to share the successes of both the programs. “We’ve had great success helping people find jobs and giving them job skills they can use to make the companies they work for more efficient and green,” said Balsimo. “Eighty-five percent of the unemployed participants in the Anoka Green program were placed in jobs and 76 percent of the participants in the Minnesota Green program have gotten jobs so far.” 

Anoka Green combines the GreenPOWER training — a series of workshops designed to help workers find energy and water efficiency and reduce waste, saving money for companies — with a Precision Sheet Metal training course at the Anoka County Technical College. Minnesota Green combined GreenPOWER with additional training in medical device manufacturing or customized welding training. Over 53 percent of the participants in Minnesota Green found employment in the medical device field, with the remainder finding jobs in the welding industry. 

Pairing green skills that reduce waste and increase profits for companies with manufacturing skills was a natural match and was especially important during the recession, when jobs were scarce and there plenty of competition for the jobs that were available. 

“Our intent was to do all this training and get all these jobs, but no one was hiring. We had to regroup,” said Carol Dombek, the Program Manager for the Minnesota State Energy Sector Partnership. “We’ve got some great projects here in Minnesota, we’re getting people trained and getting people into jobs. 

“We will exceed all of our goals by the time the project is done on June 1,” she added. 

Dombek says the Minnesota State Energy Sector Partnership was recognized as one of the 25 top performing ARRA grants. The partnership funded 25 projects around the state in total, training over 1,700 workers and 1,000 workers are expected to enter employment by mid-2013. You can get more information on the Governor’s Workforce Development Council website. 

Photo: Jerome Balsimo and Carol Dombek at the Minnesota State Capitol.

Last week, Mid-America Energy Co. announced that they will be investing $1.9 billion investment in wind in Iowa. The project will generate over 1,000 megawatts of power in the state by 2015, create hundreds of direct jobs (and more indirect jobs creating the components for the 656 turbines), and reduce electricity rates for customers of the utility by up to $10 million per year by 2017. 

From an editorial supporting the investment in the Sioux City Journal:

Because wind is in inexhaustible supply and some 75 percent of Iowa is considered suitable for wind-energy development with an estimated total resource of 570,000 megawatts of electricity, we haven't scratched the surface of the potential for this industry in our state. 

In the larger picture, wind energy is good for America. For the long-term economic, strategic and security interests of the nation, we support a diverse portfolio of energy options, including oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewable sources such as wind and biofuels like biodiesel and ethanol. It makes no sense for the country to put all of its energy eggs into one or two baskets, so to speak. For those reasons, the decision by Congress in January to extend tax credits for the wind and biofuels industries was money well spent. 

As the importance of renewable energy grows, Iowa's importance as a leader in the field (Iowa also ranks first for ethanol production and third for biodiesel production) grows. 

That's something all of us who live and work in this state should be excited about.

Around the country, states, cities, and even private companies are taking the move to a clean energy economy seriously. Congress must do that as well. With the right policies and investments, we could be seeing projects like this all over the country — providing renewable energy, good jobs for workers, and dramatically reducing the carbon pollution that is causing climate change. 

America is ready for leadership in clean energy. We’re ready for good, family-supporting jobs. We’re ready for cleaner air. Now, we need to push Congress to get ready as well. 

The folks over at Policy Matters in Ohio have issued a new report that says the Buckeye State could be a key player in the supply chain for the growing electric vehicles (EV) market in the U.S.

The report says that positive policy changes — like the increased fuel-efficiency standards put forward by the Obama administration, federal and state incentives for EV purchases, and investments in charging infrastructure — are succeeding at making EVs attractive to car buyers, and that could mean jobs in Ohio. If, that is, the state acts now to utilize the manufacturing knowledge of its work force and promotes existing manufacturers to get in the EV parts manufacturing market.

The group’s Green Electricity and Transpiration (GET) Smart policy solutions are the vehicle to achieving this goal. They boil down to a few simple, but effective, ideas that will drive growing in the EV supply chain in Ohio. From the report:

• Create a Transportation Choice fund in Ohio's transportation budget. By 2030, ramp funding up to 10 percent of the state’s multi-billion dollar transportation budget;
• Expand Ohio’s Advanced Energy Fund and using it to provide grants, rebates, vouchers, and low-interest loans to promote EV adoption;
• Protect and expand Ohio’s clean energy laws;
• Identify existing Ohio manufacturers that can participate in the EV supply chain, helping them retool to meet the needs of this industry, and investing in related research and development.

Notice that promoting clean energy and sustaining the work already done in the state is a vital component of their plan. Clean energy and electric vehicles go hand-in-hand.

Making sure the energy we use to charge electric vehicles is clean and renewable only makes sense. It reduces carbon pollution, while also creating even more good jobs in other sectors for workers making the components to generate power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources and those in the building trades installing and maintaining them. And, more and more ways are being developed to help EVs move excess energy back into the grid for all of us to use.

The bottom line is that to reduce our imports of foreign oil, make our economy stronger by creating new jobs and making our current jobs more secure, and fighting climate change, we need to move to more fuel-efficient vehicles, including EVs.

This blog was originally posted on the Good Jobs, Green Jobs website.

The Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference has attracted big name speakers over the years, and this year was no different. Tuesday afternoon, the attendees got to hear from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. 

“High speed rail is coming to America!” Ray LaHood declared to the audience. He also spoke of the importance of Buy America requirements and preparing our country’s infrastructure for climate change. “Construction materials for our new rail projects are coming from rail from facilities in 49 states. That’s good for our workers, good for our travelers and good for the economy. For everything we do, we have an eye on the future… America was built on big ideas and bold actions because generations before us had the courage and the foresight to invest in our future… We owe no less to our children and grandchildren.” 

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who previously received the BlueGreen Alliance’s Green Jobs Champion Award in 2009, stated the Good Jobs, Green Jobs agenda is a “great message.” She added, “There is no doubt this is our responsibility and we see it as an opportunity… Science has shown us human activities have had an effect on climate change. Your formula of good jobs, green jobs not only protects the environment, it grows the economy.”

Optimism from job growth in the first two months of 2013 was interrupted today with the release of the March jobs report. The numbers reveal just 88,000 jobs were added last month and unemployment dropped slightly to 7.7 percent, although for all the wrong reasons. At face value, this data may not sound terrible, but if we read between the lines the numbers are troubling for the economy. It’s time to make investments that will stimulate growth and get the economy back on track.

Last month jobs were added at the slowest pace in almost a year and the unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percent mostly because people stopped looking for work.  According to a Washington Post analysis, “…496,000 people dropped out of the labor force, and 206,000 fewer people reported having a job, meaning that the proportion of Americans currently working actually ticked down, not up.” Americans have had enough of Congress’ manufactured crises of indecision and indiscriminate budget cuts that are holding us all back. Today’s jobs report is proof that looming budget cuts and economic uncertainty are weighing down job creation, innovation and our ability to compete globally.

Despite today’s numbers, the economic recovery overall hasn’t exactly been feeble. Over the past three years, over six million jobs have been added. The damage caused by the sequester — across-the-board budget cuts that was pushed for by Republicans — have begun to take effect and are beginning to rattle the economy.

In the short-term, air-traffic control towers are being shut down, hundreds of people laid off at the Department of Energy and hospitals are also being forced to make layoffs. Over the next year or two, experts are warning that we could lose around 750,000 jobs across the country.

In the long-term, it’s hard to say exactly what opportunities America’s workers and growing industries are missing out on, but the sequester is effectively a man-made recession. We know how a recession hurts in the long term; it has, according to Lawrence H. Summers, a former adviser to President Obama, and J. Bradford DeLong, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley “…scarring effects on young workers who have trouble beginning their careers, changes in managerial attitudes, and reductions in government physical and human capital investments as social-insurance expenditures make prior claims on limited state and local financial resources.”

Enough about but we’re not doing to stimulate the economy though, and more about what we can do to rev engines of the economy. The best thing to do is to make strategic investments in America’s clean energy future and rebuild our infrastructure for the 21^st century. We can put more Americans back to work and stimulate growth by investing now in infrastructure — and preparing our basic systems for the impacts of climate change — and manufacturing more clean energy technologies here in the United States. Spurring long-term economic growth today is as important as it has ever been, and we can’t lose sight of that fact.

This blog is by Cylvia Hayes, Founder and CEO of 3EStrategies and the First Lady of Oregon.  It is cross-posted from the 2013 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference blog. The conference will be happening April 16-18 in Washington, D.C. Reserve your spot today!

Over the past two years, the governors of California, Oregon, Washington and the premier of British Columbia have been jointly collaborating with energy, climate and economic development advocates to accelerate clean economy development and jobs growth in the region. These regional leaders have united around an agenda that takes energy efficiency to scale, expands clean transportation and creates a regional infrastructure exchange to attract private investors in clean economy infrastructure projects.

At the upcoming Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference, colleagues from Washington State and California and I will be speaking on a panel titled “Trickle Up Leadership: West Coast Clean Economy Collaboration.”  We will discuss how we launched the unique West Coast Clean Economy alignment initiative, what we’re currently working on, and where it might be headed.

We will also talk about the fact that this regional commitment to clean economy strategies is paying off. A recent jobs study shows that 500,000 Pacific Coast residents are earning full-time clean economy paychecks. Clean economy sectors are producing jobs faster, paying higher wages and have been more recession resistant than conventional sectors. The West Coast Governors have signed a joint resolution to work together to grow the regional clean economy. 

An even more recent report by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) projected that as many as 110,000 jobs could result from the 300 clean energy and clean transportation projects launched in 2012 in the U.S., and California and Oregon were both in the top ten for clean economy jobs growth.

Given the gridlock in Washington D.C., we believe state and multi-state regional initiatives offer the best hope for bold action on clean energy and climate policy. We look forward to a lively exchange with our audience.   

It’s budget season in Congress. Budget plans released by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and the House this week are reigniting the debate over our country’s income, expenses and long and short term financial obligations. Recognizing that America is still clamoring out of an economic recession, there is a right way and a wrong way to sustain and improve the growth we’ve seen over the past few years. The right way is by investing in our people and our economy. The path backwards is cuts that deteriorate the steady progress we’ve been making. 

Our economic prosperity this year and beyond hinges on making the right economic investments, not how deeply we can make cuts.  

The federal budget should mirror our nation’s priorities, which is why we advocate for forward thinking measures for sustainable, economic growth, and call for strategic investments in our clean energy economy, infrastructure, public health and safety and education. 

In spite of the often one-sided rhetoric, we can drive programs of fairness and innovation, economic growth and environmental protection, job creation and climate change pollution reduction. We can do this while also balancing America’s budget and solving the deficit. We need a balanced approach that includes changes in the current revenue structure. 

Spending toward worker training programs, toward new technology that harnesses new energy sources, and toward improving the competitiveness of American workers has yielded high return on investment. The result of that spending in just a few short years is a stronger, more diverse economy. 

There are sectors of the economy where these kinds of investments can do the most good. Infrastructure is a good example. This week the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report card on the state of our infrastructure. The report card concluded overall, our infrastructure earns a D+ rating. Our ports, roads, rails, bridges and drinking water systems are all struggling to meet our demands. The silver lining to this problem is that addressing it can create thousands of jobs and fix this growing problem. 

Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake now and the cuts will set us back in efforts to grow millions more. Cutting research and development on new technologies in transportation, clean energy, manufacturing, improved infrastructure, and other areas will make our country less competitive globally for the good jobs in those industries. 

It would be short-sighted and immoral to deal with our budget by placing undue burdens on the middle class, and undercutting the advancements we are finally making in what will be the biggest job-creating industry of the future: clean energy. By focusing solely on cuts, we will be set back in our fight against the two generational crises we currently face: unemployment and climate change. We cannot afford another self-inflicted crisis. We must set aside the focus on austerity that has dampened our recovery and act together on a job-creating agenda that will address climate change and rebuild America. 

The following blog is written by Amber Scott, Legislative Intern for the BlueGreen Alliance. 

While Congress is struggling to find a path forward on pressing fiscal matters, a few of our House and Senate champions are hard at work, introducing several key bills in recent days to spur job creation, strengthen American manufacturing and expand the clean energy economy. 

When first introduced, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act had wide bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, and was endorsed by numerous automobile manufacturers and environmental groups. It is now being reintroduced by Michigan Congressman Gary Peters and Senator Debbie Stabenow in a bicameral effort to direct nearly $3 billion to the Department of Energy for research and development of advanced vehicle technology, to include U.S. made-battery and electric drive components that will significantly improve efficiency in our nation’s vehicle fleet. The bill also seeks to advance state and local initiatives in developing and promoting advanced vehicle technologies, manufacturing, and infrastructure. The bill would enable progress across the U.S. auto industry, covering light-duty passenger vehicles to heavy-duty trucks and buses. 

By incentivizing the development of homegrown advanced vehicle technology, the bill would help meet strong fuel efficiency standards and diversify and expand the alternative fuel market. Continued technology development would also lead to more affordable fuel and reduced dependence on foreign oil. The bill also creates job opportunities in American manufacturing and infrastructure expansion, especially among highly skilled positions, and seeks to bridge high quality job applicants with manufacturing employment needs through groundbreaking workforce development initiatives. The bill’s release is complemented with another bill in the Senate that focuses on job creation and on growing the American industry sector. 

A bill that specifically targets American manufacturing was released late last week by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY). Senator Gillibrand’s Made in America Manufacturing Act establishes a program for a joint award of incentives that grants to a state or a regional partnership support for the U.S. manufacturing industry. Recently, a lack of capital funding has inhibited the growth and cultivation of the manufacturing industry; a key point that should to change. This competitive award will provide low-interest loans to build facilities, upgrade equipment, and increase access to capital and technical assistance. Funds will also be directed toward workforce development and vocational programs to prepare the workforce for quality jobs in manufacturing. The workforce training is critical, because according to a 2011 survey by the Manufacturing Institute, over 600,000 manufacturing jobs went unfilled due to the short supply of skilled workers. 

The Invest in American Jobs Act introduced by Ranking Member Nick Rahall (WV) of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday, closes loopholes on Buy American requirements within the scope of public transportation and infrastructure, specifically for highways, bridge, passenger rail services, aviation programs. It also expands Buy American requirements to other infrastructure investments such as water and aviation, including infrastructure grants, loans, loan guarantees, and state revolving funds. By ensuring all of the steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in these projects is produced in the U.S., Buy America requirements assure that U.S. taxpayer dollars contribute to quality, good paying jobs here in the U.S. instead of overseas. 

All three of these bills address critical issues in the current state of the manufacturing industry, and seek to strengthen and expand it for a more competitive and healthy U.S. economy. 

A new report out today shows we’re creating more and more clean energy jobs across the country and those thousands of jobs are making a positive impact for workers, the environment and the economy. The Environmental Entrepreneurs report shows that 300 clean energy and clean transportation projects in 2012 are expected to create 110,000 jobs. Strengthening this base of clean energy jobs in wind, solar and other clean energy industries should continue to be a priority. Federal, state and local priorities should continue to support, not threaten, that mission for growth.

The report’s findings reveal that clean transportation projects edged out the competition, followed by clean power generation, manufacturing and energy efficiency projects. Regionally, the Southeast led the country with manufacturing-related clean energy job announcements that created 13,700 jobs last year, accounting for about 80 percent of the nation’s total.

Standout states in terms of clean energy projects and jobs created include California, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Connecticut, Arizona, New York and Michigan.

What the data in this report shows is that investing in the promise of clean energy is creating good jobs for the American people. The Recovery Act and clean energy tax credits like the Production Tax Credit were a starting point for expanding investments in clean energy. Now we need to put our heads together to find new, innovative ways to invest in our infrastructure to prepare us for the new reality of climate change, help move people and goods more efficiently, curb greenhouse emissions from existing power plants, and stimulate American manufacturing.

In the absence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics count of green jobs, eliminated by Congress’ reckless budget cuts that have begun to take effect, this report is an important measuring stick for clean energy job creation.

The report also highlights the direct correlation between the Production Tax Credit for the wind industry and thousands of jobs. Due to the looming expiration date of the PTC, the industry saw a dip in turbine orders and significant layoffs. Better late than never, Congress acted to renew the PTC and the industry accordingly saw slight gains.

Despite efforts to derail the mission to expand the clean energy economy, Americans remain committed to this effort. Just as important, so does President Obama. Our progress on and renewed commitment to a cleaner economy that deploys the latest technology to the benefit of the environment and economy took center stage during the President’s State of the Union speech. Congress should get on board. Over the next year, curbing carbon pollution and expanding efforts to curb the effects of climate change will sustain the economy and the environment next year and beyond. 

On Friday, March 1 a series of budget cuts take effect that could kill the jobs of hard-working Americans and stifle our recovery. The sequester, as it is officially named, is a series of arbitrary, politically motivated budget cuts, impacting investments that create jobs, lead to innovation from research and development, and protect our most vulnerable. Some are calling it a self-inflicted wound; others a scare tactic. Either way, reality is setting in that these budget cuts are more than an inconvenience, they will put us back in a recession by killing hundreds of thousands of jobs and make us less competitive in the global economy.

In order to put in perspective the effect of these budget cuts, they are estimated to eliminate or furlough 2.14 million jobs and cut 1.5 points off of GDP growth for the year. The job losses would effectively put the economy right back to where it was over a year ago in February 2012, less two million jobs. Millions in the workforce simply don’t have time or the resources for a setback like this one and certainly don’t support the ongoing political brinksmanship surrounding these cuts.

Instead of budget cuts we need to do more to make our economy work for working people. Congress should reinvest in America by confronting the causes of climate change. Investments in infrastructure and clean energy will create the good, family-supporting jobs that we need to keep America strong and prosperous. Growth not cuts will get us ready to face climate change, create family-supporting jobs, and keep America on the road to recovery.

Investments similar to those that we made in the Recovery Act will once again reinvigorate the economy and expand American-made clean energy technology. Recovery Act programs like 48C (the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit Program) and job training programs made it possible to turn 25 months of consecutive job losses 2008-2010 into 28 consecutive months of job growth. Renewing similar investments will create jobs and address the deficit once again.     

Forget growing the economy and combatting the effects of climate change, allowing these budget cuts to take effect next week would make us even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the next superstorm and a quickly weakening national infrastructure. Burning America’s bridges to prosperity and a brighter and stronger economic future is no way for an economy to function properly or grow. But, this debate has already consumed too much of our time. Instead, we should be focusing on the real problems facing our country — climate change and unemployment— and not another politically manufactured crisis that hurts us all.