Augusta, Maine — A new NRDC analysis shows that the Build Back Better Act, as it currently stands, has the potential to significantly accelerate clean energy investment, economic activity, and job growth in Maine. The Senate’s passage of the Build Back Better Act would bring these climate and economic benefits to states across the country — and result in 3,600–5,100 new direct jobs being created in Maine.
“The Build Back Better Act has the potential to significantly accelerate this investment, economic activity, and job growth in Maine,” said Sami Yassa, Senior Scientist for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “Already, clean energy is the biggest job creator in our country’s energy sector, employing almost three times as many workers as the fossil fuel industry. The Build Back Better Act offers tax incentives to boost the renewable energy industry, especially in low-income communities, and support a just transition for communities that have relied on fossil fuel revenue and jobs in the past.”
Projected benefits of the Build Back Better Act in Maine include:
- Additional direct jobs, like those to manufacture, build, and service clean/low-carbon resources: 3,600–5,100.
- New carbon-free energy generating capacity to be built in the state: 1,100–1,400 MW, which would more than double the state’s large-scale wind and solar capacity.
- Percentage of in-state generation coming from carbon-free resources: 83–94 percent. Currently, in-state generation from carbon-free resources is 59 percent.
Access the full NRDC BBB jobs analysis for Maine here.
Background
The House-passed Build Back Better Act contains more than $150 billion in clean electricity tax incentives as well as more than $25 billion for clean energy loans, grants, research, procurement, and other essential programs. Tax incentives are critical to driving clean energy deployment and reducing the cost of renewables and other clean energy resources.
The tax incentives included in the legislation are flexible and accessible to support all types of developers (small and large, for-profit and not-for-profit) who will usher in the fastest — and most sustained — build-out of renewables in the country’s history. The incorporation of labor standards such as prevailing wage and domestic content requirements on clean energy credits will help increase American manufacturing and ensure that the jobs created are good jobs.
11,922 people worked in Maine’s clean energy sector in 2020, according to the Clean Jobs America 2021 report from E2. This includes 2,497 in renewable energy, 8,034 in energy efficiency, and 740 in clean vehicles. The clean energy sector in Maine grew 8.1 percent between 2018 and 2020, and the Build Back Better bill could accelerate that growth in the coming years.
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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.
Press release from NRDC.
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