Friday, March 5, 2010 1:30 PM
Obama, Chu Emphasize Domestic Jobs
By Amy Harder, NationalJournal.com
President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu both underscored the importance of American clean energy jobs today in separate announcements. These remarks came on the heels of a call from four Democratic senators on Wednesday to halt stimulus funding on wind projects for fear that jobs in this industry are being created overseas instead of in the U.S. Neither Obama nor Chu made a direct reference to the senators' efforts.
"We need to invest in the jobs of the future and in the industries of the future, because the country that leads in clean energy and energy efficiency today, I'm absolutely convinced, is going to lead the global economy tomorrow," Obama said at the Arlington, Va., headquarters OPOWER, a small Smart Grid and energy efficiency software company. "I want that country to be the United States of America."
Obama didn't announce any specific new initiatives but continued to promote the "cash for caulkers" home energy efficiency rebate program that he discussed in detail earlier this week.
Chu also announced a $72 million conditional loan guarantee to SAGE Electrochromics, a company that manufactures energy-saving window technology for commercial buildings. The funding for this loan comes from the Energy Policy Act of 2005, not the stimulus.
"Right now, we are behind in the clean energy race. For example, China is spending about $9 billion a month on clean energy," Chu said in a morning conference call with reporters. "While we manufactured 40 percent of solar cells in the mid 1990s, today we produce just 7 percent. Rather than sending billions overseas to pay for clean energy technology, we must start investing these dollars in American workers, industries and innovation."
At a Senate hearing Thursday, DOE official Matt Rogers pushed back against the senators' request to halt stimulus wind funding, saying that such a move would hinder domestic job creation.
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