Senator Stabenow touts green economy at UAW Center
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
A panel discussion at UAW Family Education Center met Monday afternoon to discuss Michigan?s new green economy and green jobs, with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow as the keynote speaker. The panel included stakeholders from business, education and training, labor, environmental and community organizations. ?This event is dedicated to transforming our ideas into action and building a revitalized green economy that creates good jobs and preserves Michigan?s economic and environmental security,? said Brenda Archambo, Michigan outreach consultant from the National Wildlife Federation, sponsor of the event. Archambo, who was the emcee, is widely known for her work with Sturgeon for Tomorrow.
THE MEETING included discussions by experts on policy, green job creation and work force development, civic engagement and education, and sustainable development. ?We all know that what we need is a comprehensive energy policy in this country, that gets us off foreign oil, creates jobs at home and really creates what I believe is the next jobs revolution,? said Stabenow in her 20 minute speech.
She said there are 8,000 parts in a wind turbine and ?we can make every one one of them in Michigan. We are making a number of them already.? Stabenow said the reasons new manufacturing jobs have been created are because of specific policy changes during the last 18 months. A few years ago, Stabenow spearheaded a retooling loan program in an energy bill to provide help to companies retooling plants that weren?t being used anymore. She said the program was in place prior to the financial problems suffered by the auto companies.
?WE?VE ALREADY begun to see efforts now to bring jobs back from other countries, this I love,? she said. ?We are bringing jobs back from Mexico to Wayne, Michigan. Ford is bringing them back for the Focus, because they got a significant retooling loan.? Stabenow said there are huge manufacturing tax credits for firms involved in producing energy alternative products. ?We have 12 companies in Michigan that have taken advantage of that.? She said that was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). ?When folks say they haven?t seen anything from that (ARRA), that?s just not accurate. The incentives have made a huge difference for us.?
Stabenow also said Michigan received the bulk of the funding for battery manufacturing. ?We?ve gotten more than 50 percent of all of the money,? said Stabenow. ?I told the president and vice president that?s the ratio we want on every grant.? IN 2009, Stabenow said Michigan was producing only two percent of the advanced battery technologies in the world. She believes it will be 40 percent by 2015. Stabenow also commented on a handful of initiatives she?s working on in Washington, D.C., such as front-loading incentives for electric cars.
General Motors Corp. will be releasing the Volt electric car at the end of the year, which will cost more to purchase the product until the volume of sales increases. ?I want that $7,500 tax credit be given right at the dealership, off the price of the car, rather than wait until the end of the year,? she said. ?That?s a lot of money and a great incentive.? She said, Michigan should not be shying away from clean energy technology, ?we should be rushing towards it, because the very thing that needs to be done, to get us off of foreign oil, to be able to create new opportunities here in Michigan, involves manufacturing an
?RATHER THAN seeing big barges coming in from Germany, with wind turbines on them, going to Duluth, Minnesota across Lake Superior, we can stop that. We?ve begun to stop that. We can have them picking up the wind turbines here, then distributing them throughout the country. We can do that with solar and other component parts as well.? In her closing remarks, she said the issues are not about jobs vs. the environment, ?this is about jobs and the environment, and national security, and getting us off of foreign oil, all rolled into one, and I can?t think of a better deal.?
Past her time, Stabenow didn?t have any time to answer questions. Local leaders in attendance include County Development Commission executive director Joe Cercone, Rogers City manager Mark Slown, Rogers City Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Raymond Spain, as well as Presque Isle District Library representatives.