The Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference wrapped up today in Washington.
Senator John Kerry kicked off the day by declaring "I don't want America to be Number Two (in clean energy). I want America to be Number One". We can't drill and burn our way out of the climate crisis, he said, so we need a clean energy revolution that reduces oil, creates jobs and protects the environment.
Senator Kerry's rallying cry was not empty political rhetoric. The rest of the day was filled with stories of how the U.S. is retooling its economy now to transition to clean energy.
For example, we heard from Chandra Brown, the president of United Streetcar in Oregon. Chandra was working for Oregon Iron Works (United Streetcar's parent company) in 2005 when she was shocked to learn that the U.S. was not manufacturing a single streetcar. She and others set out to change that, and last July, the first American-made streetcar in 58 years rolled out the door. The workers who had built it were so proud they all signed their names to it.
Portland, Oregon is now upgrading its streetcar system, supplied by United Streetcar. And, business owners along the streetcar routes are seeing economic gains from the increased public transit and are helping to fund it.
We also heard about the small town of Newton, Iowa. A long-time manufacturing centre for Maytag, the town was devastated when 1,800 people lost their job when the facility closed in 2006. Now, two wind manufacturers have moved into town, creating roughly 700 jobs. Iowa's renewable fuel standard is credited with helping to make that happen.
And, we heard about Trenton, Nova Scotia. In 2007, the TrentonWorks steel facility was closed, putting 330 people out of work. In March of this year, the province announced a joint venture with Daiwoo, a South Korean firm, to build wind turbine towers and blades on the site of the closed steel mill. It will employ 400 people when completed, putting steelworkers back on the job.
The Trenton example shows that Canada can create good, clean energy jobs, and provinces like Nova Scotia and Ontario are leading the way in the absence of federal leadership.
However, without federal leadership to spur the transition to a clean energy economy and ensure we harness new jobs in the fast growing sector, Canada will continue to fall behind. If the U.S. is gunning to be Number One in the clean energy race, I'd say our federal government is aiming for a solid last place finish.
Gillian McEachern
Program Manager, Climate and Energy
Environmental Defence
Posts
