This is The Source for October 22, 2012, green jobs news every day from the BlueGreen Alliance. Don’t forget to “tell your friends” about this great resource. You can sign up here.
TOP THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR OCTOBER 22
Wind adds almost 5 GW of power in 2012! The U.S. wind industry installed a record number of wind turbines in 2012. The installations added 4,728 megawatts of wind power to America's energy supply.
But… Despite the success of America’s wind industry, the American Energy Alliance told Politico they plan to make voting to extend the Production Tax Credit for wind energy “so toxic that it makes it impossible for John Boehner to sit at a table with Harry Reid and say, ‘Yeah, I can bend on this one.’”
So… As we’ve told you, the uncertainty caused by Congress’s inaction on the Production Tax Credit is already being felt in the wind industry — an industry that employs more than 75,000 people in the United States. General Electric is now saying its energy infrastructure revenues fell five percent in the third quarter of this year thanks to the uncertainty in the wind industry.
National and International Blue-Green
Unemployment dropped in 41 states and Washington, D.C. last month. USA Today has more.
Newsweek releases its annual “Green Rankings”. GreenBiz.com says the new rankings “represent the first meaningful, apples-to-apples comparison of company performance in the rankings’ four-year history.”
The Washington Post takes a look at the progress of President Obama’s environmental agenda.
Fuel Fix makes predictions about what a Romney Administration cabinet might look like.
The Head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration recently stated the “falling costs for wind power will make the alternate energy competitive with natural gas and coal,” according to Bloomberg.
Triple Pundit says the “top five green jobs on the rise” in the United States are environmental entrepreneurs, solar installation workers, environmental engineers, ecological educators and fashion designer.
To the States
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette climate change is causing the corn belt to move northward.
The San Francisco Gate says more money have been put into campaigns for and againstCalifornia’s 11 ballot propositions than ever before.
The Los Angeles Times looks at the “mixed results” that followed passage of state laws similar to California Proposition 32’s ban on the use of payroll deductions for a union’s political activities.
WMUK takes a look at Michigan’s six ballot measures including Proposal 2 (the measure that would enshrine collective bargaining in the state’s constitution), Proposal 3 (the measuring that would increase the state’s Renewable Energy Standard to 25 percent by 2025) and Proposal 4 (the measure providing collective bargaining rights to home health care workers).
Midwest Energy News visited the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to see how it has some of the lowest energy costs in the military.
The Gazette examines if Iowa’s renewable energy boom is “headed for a bust.”
mLive.com talks about studies being done by the Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center on the wind patters in the middle of Lake Michigan.
Blue-Green Links
New York Times: Recycling Helps, but It’s Not All You Can Do for the Environment
Associated Press: Unions shift political might to state, local races
Politico: New Obama ad features Ohio auto workers
EarthTechling: Wind Beats Hydro, For A Day, In Pacific NW
Lawrence Journal-World (KS): 14-year-old Lecompton girl sues Brownback administration over CO2 emissions
Boston Globe: Deficit, green jobs divide an Iowa town
KQED (CA): Fact-Checking Propositions 32 and 37 Campaign Ads
Merced Sun-Star (CA): Our View: No on 32 -- it's a phony reform
Mill Valley Patch (CA): Prop. 39 Seeks to Close $1B Tax Loophole for Multi-State Corporations
Savannah Morning News (GA): Chatham green jobs plan abandoned after energy reductions fail to meet projections
WIBQ (IN): Right To Work Law Suit
Detroit Free Press (MI): Brian Dickerson: Why I'm voting for renewable energy
Eastern Echo (MI): Collective bargaining on this year’s ballot
Lansing State Journal (MI): Groups split on Prop. 3's job effects
mLive.com (MI): Michigan Decides 2012: Proposal 3 dictates renewable energy standards for Michigan utilities