Plan to Import Energy Would Cost 15,000 Jobs
Sempra Energy’s proposal to build a new transmission line to import electricity into the United States from green energy generators located in Mexico would cost as many as 15,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $300 million in lost local, state and federal tax revenue, according to a new report.
A huge 90 percent of the direct job losses would occur in Imperial County, Calif., which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation in April 2011 at 27.9 percent.
Bob Balgenorth, president of the California State Building and Construction Trades Council, said the report confirms what workers have known all along: Sempra’s plan is a job killer.
Political Climate Can’t Stop Climate Change Initiatives
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AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh is a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the second of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the first blog here.
Congress’ failure to pass climate change legislation and the election of a conservative majority in the next House have led many delegates from other countries to ask if the United States can meet the commitments it made in Copenhagen to reduce carbon emissions.
China and Its U.S. Wind Farm Partner Promise More American Jobs
After a public outcry over China’s plan to seek $450 million in economic recovery funds to build a wind farm in Texas that would create only 30 U.S. jobs, the companies involved are now promising to put more Americans to work.
USA Today reports the companies—a U.S. private equity firm and a Chinese turbine maker—also will build a plant in the United States that will make wind turbines while employing 1,000 people. The companies did not indicate the timeframe for building the plant, which would be one of the biggest in the nation for wind turbines.
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, says:
It’s a start, but it just shows how far we have to go [to catch up in the production of wind turbines and other clean-energy products.]
Foreign Companies Cop 84 Percent of Stimulus Green Economy Funds
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Instead of creating thousands of new jobs for out-of-work Americans, the push for alternative energy is lining the pockets of foreign companies. A new study shows that of the $1.05 billion of stimulus funds spent on clean energy grants since Sept. 1, an astronomical 84 percent—or $849 million—has gone to foreign wind companies, with one firm collecting more than $500 million alone.
Russ Choma writes that the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University found the Spanish utility company Iberdrola S.A. has collected $545 million in grants through its U.S. subsidiary. And the money doesn’t even have to go to create jobs. The group reports there are few restrictions on how the grants can be used. In fact, more than $800 million has been given to firms for wind farms that were already producing electricity before they received the grants.
This revelation comes as the public is becoming aware of and outraged by China seeking $450 million in economic recovery funds to build a planned $1.5 billion wind farm in Texas. The farm will create 30 permanent jobs in the United States and 2,000 jobs in China.
