Clean Energy Manufacturing Brouhaha the News

[irishbobcat]

Clean Energy Manufacturing Brouhaha the News
A recent rash of news stories have highlighted the fact that many clean energy manufacturing jobs are going overseas. This is a critical issue that the Apollo Alliance has been working to address for some time.
Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story (Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm) about a Chinese wind-turbine company that is going to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S. The development, which will be located in West Texas, is ostensibly going to create 2,800 jobs, but only 15 percent of them will be in the United States. The rest will be in China.
On Sunday, the New York Times' Green Inc. blog took up the same topic (Chinese Involvement in Proposed Texas Wind Farm Stirs Passions) and included dozens of angry comments from readers who wanted to know why U.S. companies—rather than a Chinese company–weren't manufacturing these wind turbines. The column also mentioned that China's foray into the American wind power market coincides with its dominance of the solar panel manufacturing industry. A subsequent column (Of China, Texas and Green Jobs) included a defense from a managing partner in the private equity firm that funded the Texas wind farm.
From the Apollo Alliance's perspective, neither China nor Texas should be blamed for these developments. Absent federal policies that encourage domestic production of clean energy systems and technologies, America will continue to lose green manufacturing jobs to other nations.
U.S. Reps. Zack Space and John Boccieri of Ohio were keyed in on this issue when they incorporated language into the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) that would help traditional U.S. manufacturers retool to enter the clean energy economy.
In the Senate, the champion of clean energy manufacturing is Sherrod Brown, also of Ohio. He introduced the IMPACT Act, which would establish a revolving loan fund to help small and mid-sized manufacturers in the U.S. retool their factories to produce clean technologies. The bill would also increase support for Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs) that link smaller manufacturers to supply chains and markets for their goods. Brown is working to get the IMPACT Act incorporated into the Senate clean energy and climate bill.
The federal government could do much more to promote domestic clean energy manufacturing. It could offer incentives to persuade clean energy manufacturing companies to set up shop in the U.S.—a common practice around the world. It could also adopt a domestic content requirement – often called a "Buy American" policy – that would either require or give preference to companies that use a certain percentage of components that are manufactured in the United States.
Some green jobs will, by their nature, be located in the United States—like jobs making buildings more energy efficient and jobs operating and maintaining wind and solar farms. But the jobs that can be sent offshore will be—unless our policy makers take steps to keep them here.
We need to create renewable energy manufacturing here in the USA NOW!!!!

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Green Party
Ohio Green Party
www.ohiogreens.org
www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/