Offshore Wind Power Offers Thousands of New Green Jobs…Or Not

October 10th, 2010 by Tina Casey

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy released a new report detailing the potential opportunities for offshore wind power development in the U.S. The figures are mighty impressive. Along with generating 4,000 gigawatts, a full blown U.S. wind power development program would create thousands of new green jobs and reduce electricity costs in key coastal areas. Things are already starting to move forward on a grand scale, with eastern seaboard states joining in a new cooperative wind power development effort, called the Atlantic Offshore Wind Power Consortium. The question is, will things keep moving forward after the upcoming election?

Clean Energy and Government Support

What it all boils down to is federal funding and support. Take a look at any major component of the U.S. economy, and you will see massive public support in the form of various federal government subsidies, tax breaks, and regulatory structures. Railroads, seaports, agriculture, our national defense infrastructure, highways, and fossil fuel production — these are all transformational developments that make the modern U.S. what it is today, and they would not have happened without a federal framework. That’s exactly the kind of muscle needed to push us forward, and out of the increasingly risky and unstable fossil fuel economy. President Obama got things started with tens of billions in new federal funds for clean energy programs that help businesses create new green jobs, but depending on the results of the upcoming election the future of federal support for sustainable energy doesn’t look all that secure.

What’s Up with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

You would think that strong federal support for new jobs and new business opportunities would get props from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but there you’d be exactly wrong. Clean tech companies, companies with strong sustainability profiles and major utilities have been been protesting and outright quitting the Chamber due to its obstructionist policies on climate change. The Chamber has always lobbied representatives in Congress but now it’s gone a step beyond and is also investing heavily in campaign ads, including attack ads, in support of candidates who are opposed to climate action. Apparently the Chamber is comfortable with supporting candidates who are likely to challenge, block, suspend or de-fund President Obama’s sustainable energy initiatives, even though it means waving good-by to new green jobs and new opportunities for business owners.

All Politics is Local…Except When it’s Not

One explanation for the motivation behind the Chamber’s partisan focus against clean energy can be found in last week’s explosive Think Progress report on the Chamber’s recent campaign activities. According to the report, the Chamber has been soliciting funds from overseas businesses and foreign governments, including oil-rich nations. The Chamber has apparently commingled these foreign funds with domestic funds in an account from which it draws campaign advertising expenditures. There’s a potential for some serious violations of federal election law, and Congress is now investigating. In the mean time, if you haven’t gotten all that excited about any of your local candidates for the upcoming election, it would be worthwhile to check out their position on clean energy, climate legislation, or the need for federal support for new green jobs. If you like what you see, by all means go out and vote.

Image: Offshore wind farm by m.prinke on flickr.com.

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Tags: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Department of Energy

About the Author

Tina Casey Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

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http://gomakesolarpanels.com/domestic-solar-power/ domestic solar power

The Government must do more to develop the US’s vast wind energy potential and ensure that citizens reap the
benefits of creating thousands of new green jobs.
Roger Lauricella

Tina: You say, “Apparently the Chamber is comfortable with supporting candidates who are likely to challenge, block, suspend or de-fund President Obama’s sustainable energy initiatives, even though it means waving good-by to new green jobs and new opportunities for business owners.” Maybe the Chamber is representing the majority interests of its membership by its opposition to the President’s initiative because as put forth (a take it all or leave it approach including cap and trade) will cause (and its been written it will) a increase in electric costs and overall business costs for US businesses. Some members of congress who opposed the larger Cap and trade bill did break off before adjournment and propose a stand alone RPS that would indeed help off shore wind move forward. If I remember correctly some of those members were (oh gast, how could it be) dreaded Republicans. I also seem to remember that these same dreaded Republicans had stated before the Cap and trade legislation was put forth that they could not support the larger bill and thought it more appropriate to go after smaller sections (such as an RPS)of legislation that they could support. I also remember at the time the so called more enlightened Senate Leadership (Now known as Scary Harry according to Drudge headlines this morning) would have nothing of it. So Tina its not as clear cut as you seem to think it is. Wind (whether off or on shore) is but one bit of the energy legislation future and can and should probably stand by itself whilst dualing scientists (yes their are reputable scientists that refute global warming which is what is will always be called no matter how one attempts to change the wording)debate global warming (oh I used the wrong phrase again, shame on me). Maybe I should have said Global cooling, but that scare never proved itself out back in the 70s with so called data from some of the same global warming scientists of today.
- Tina Casey
  
  Roger: Thank you for your comment, and I’m sorry that I did not make my meaning clear. I did not mean to imply that the issue is “clear cut,” as you put it. I was trying to make the opposite point, namely that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which seems to have a clear-cut mission of representing the interests of U.S. businesses, is actually pursuing a far more complicated course, by investing a significant amount of money to support candidates who, if elected, are likely to undermine the growing clean energy sector and thwart the interests of U.S. businesses. Next time I will try to state my points more clearly.
  
  Also just a general note to readers: I had to delete another comment on this post because although the writer raised some interesting points, there was quite a bit of cursing (mild cursewords, but still) and gratuitous bashing. Please try to help keep the conversation polite and reasonable.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Actually Roger,
  
  about 19% of the Chamber of Commerce membership is Big Oil. Plus they just had the scandal Tina mentions: foreign (Middle East, like Fox news) investment in our elections to ensure that we stay dumb and pick climate deniers in Nov.
  - http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
    
    Al Franken is going after them for influencing US elections with foreign money
    
    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/70341/20101010/commerce-elections-funding.htm
Dewita Soeharjono

Don’t think people realized the implications if we let the other party – the party of NO – take over the control of Congress!! It’ll set America back.. further. Ironically, in this interconnected world of internet, people in other countries learn from the U.S. – while we don’t learn from them.