Apollo Energy Program Rolls Into Ohio, Where was Charlie Wilson?

[irishbobcat]

Apollo Energy Program Rolls Into Ohio, Where was Charlie Wilson?

October 15, 2008


COLUMBUS, Ohio — Phil Angelides, the chairman of the Apollo Alliance, pulled into Ohio's capital early last week to "raise the banner of The New Apollo Program," and called the organization's 10-year, $500 billion plan a "sweeping investment program to put Americans back to work."
Moments later Ohio's Democratic Governor Ted Strickland declared his unqualified support for the plan. "If we do what The New Apollo Program encourages the next president and Congress to do we will see a renaissance in America's and Ohio's economy. I am happy to do what we can as Buckeyes to facilitate this effort."
Representative Jay Inslee, a Democrat of Washington State, who is helping us roll out The New Apollo Program in Seattle on Friday, also attended the event here. His view: Ohio is a logical place for clean energy investment. The state uses more energy than all but five other states. It just approved a renewable energy standard for state utilities, and enjoys robust capacity in its agricultural, research, industrial, and manufacturing sectors. Those are the building blocks of a clean energy sector. Ohio also has history, reflected in the inventiveness of Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, who were born and raised in Ohio, and characterized by the courage of John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, two more native Ohioans.
"This is the place for The New Apollo Program, and the time for Apollo," said Inslee. "Some may not think this is the time for bold ideas. But this is exactly the time. These are the moments that see the United States rally around optimism and confidence. The New Apollo Program is the perfect challenge because it attacks the thing that challenges us right now, our fear and our confidence."
The nation's economy and the federal credit bailout were very much on the minds of journalists and union members who attended the event, which was held at the IBEW Training Center on Goodale Boulevard. Angelides addressed the point directly. "If we can afford $85 billion to rescue AIG," he said, "we can afford $50 billion a year to put our own people back to work."
Phil added: "There is every reason to believe that Ohio can be at the forefront of these investment dollars. We think if we do this right, Ohio can create 400,000 green collar jobs."
Indeed, unemployment is rising in Ohio, and currently sits at 7.4 percent, a 1.7 percent increase since 2007 and the highest it has been in the last decade.  That means that over 444,000 Ohio workers are currently without jobs.  Ohio lost almost 7,000 jobs just in the month of August, and a total of 90,000 jobs have been lost since last year.  Manufacturing has been hit the hardest - Ohio lost over 15,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 12 months.  Additionally, over 5,900 construction jobs were lost over the past year.
Still, there are bright spots. The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that there are currently 16,884 green jobs in Ohio. These jobs are focused on renewable energy, biofuels, and energy efficiency. They include jobs in the renewable power, agriculture, engineering, research, manufacturing, construction, and government sectors.
·   A $500 billion federal investment in clean energy would generate an additional $233 billion in ongoing economic stimulus (GDP, personal income, and retail sales).
·   Of the $500 billion federal investment, $22 billion would go to Ohio.
·   A  $22 billion federal investment in Ohio would create 155,899 direct, permanent jobs over 10 years, including:
o   42,855 on-site manufacturing jobs
o   17,756 on-site construction jobs
o   4,265 transportation jobs
A broader calculation takes into account not only direct jobs, but also indirect and induced jobs created.  These include jobs such as materials transportation, retail sales, business services, accounting, and other support services.
Calculating the broader employment impacts, based on data from the Center for American Progress:
·   Start with a proposal to invest $100 billion over 2 years, with a $3.66 billion federal investment in Ohio.  Scaled up to meet our proposal of a $500 billion federal investment over 10 years, this would mean a federal investment of $18.3 billion in Ohio.
·   This $18.3 billion federal investment would result in a total of 401,800 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in Ohio over 10 years.
Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2008

Where was Charlie Wilson? Oh, Because Coal and Fossil Fuels were not mentioned, Charlie's coal lobbyists probably told him to stay home or in Florida.
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