The Philadelphia Inquirer had an excellent article yesterday about Governor Ed Rendell's passion for renewable energy, and how it is beginning to pay off big time for the State, and for his own political career.
Rendell, clean-fuels crusader
Secretary of Energy Ed Rendell?
That aspiration might have seemed far-fetched four years ago, when Rendell was sworn in for his first term as Pennsylvania governor. But times have changed, as he looks to his second inaugural Tuesday.
Note to others: bold (and smart) energy policies pay off!
In his first term, Rendell opened a new chapter in the state's long history of energy innovation. Pennsylvania coal powered the country in the 18th and 19th centuries. America struck oil in 1859 in Titusville.
Now, Pennsylvania is breaking ground on alternative energy: wind, solar, biomass, waste coal. Rendell's first term focused on electrical-power generation; the second term promises to revolutionize transportation fuels.
Alternative energies are cutting edge technologies and represent progress. They fit well in a narrative of economic dynamism, leadership and "can-do" spirit.
Rendell's passion blossomed under the tutelage of environmental secretary Kathleen McGinty, who worked for Gore in the Senate and the White House and on private-sector energy projects.
She knows that investments in renewable energy can reap good-paying jobs, as well as benefit the environment and reduce dependence on imported fuels.
Rendell set out to prove that by wooing companies such as Spanish wind giant Gamesa Corp., which was seeking a U.S. headquarters. Gamesa decided in 2004 to locate in Bucks County and build two Pennsylvania manufacturing plants, as well. The $84 million investment is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.
We all know, by now, that protecting the environment is worth it, but we see it, most of the time, as a burden that needs to be carried. Well, that narrative needs to be changed: alternative energies create jobs - in fact, they create lots more jobs than other energy sources, which rely on heavy capital investment and extraction of resources from the ground, neither of which require many jobs.
While the manufacturing jobs are up for grabs, the jobs linked with operations and maintenance of renewable energy generators (like wind turbines and solar panels) CANNOT be outsourced, and they are located in the community which hosts the generation capacity.
And manufacturing - what Pennsylvania has managed to attract - is high tech manufacturing (new materials, complex machinery, aerospace-style technology, etc...) which provides lots of well-qualified - and I would imagine, well paid, jobs, both of the white collar and the blue collar varieties.
Those companies' willingness to locate here resulted, in part, from the governor's first big energy victory: passing, in 2004, one of the nation's most progressive alternative-energy-portfolio standards. The law ensures that 18 percent of all energy generated in Pennsylvania will come from clean, efficient sources by 2020.
There's no secret: good regulation is required. Smart regulation that allows for market mechanisms to play - within a framework and towards goals defined by public authorities - and for investors to take their decisions on rational, predictable return criteria.
But regulation comes from the government (or, here, State authorities), and thus require public authorities willing to state priorities and set the rules to achieve them. Government action is needed, and it is a force for good.
Rendell's biggest challenges have come in Harrisburg, where he and McGinty have spent hours arm-twisting legislators for votes. They've also withstood powerful coal, automotive and utility lobbyists, who oppose their progressive plans to clean up mercury pollution at coal-fired power plants and improve gas mileage of new vehicles.
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Yep, there are forces arrayed against the new regulations. But if it can be done in Pennsylvania, a coal state, it should be doable elsewhere.
And now there is a strong industrial lobby for renewable energies in Pennsylvania, which supports efforts to go further.
Renewable energy are good for the environment, good for jobs, and can be smart politics.