Even red states will go green
Georgia has attracted a $2.5 billion investment from one of the world’s bestknown solar panel makers — ironically, in the home district of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who viscerally opposed the legislation that made it a reality: the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed a year ago. South Korea-based Qcells, which will employ 2,500 people in the state, credits the act’s incentives.
Greene represents the northwestern section of Georgia, which the carpeting industry made prosperous. But hard times hit in 2008, devastating that industry and making it easy pickings for populist politicians. But lip service doesn’t provide jobs. And Biden created the incentives that have delivered — not just in Georgia but nationwide.
Green jobs change minds
“When something becomes a pocketbook issue and creates jobs and economic growth, people start to rethink their opinions,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs, or E2. “Very few people have seen glaciers melting, but everyone understands what it means when a factory comes to town and creates 1,000 jobs.”
According to E2’s findings, the private sector has announced at least 210 significant new green energy and clean vehicle projects across the country since the act’s passage. That will create 74,181 jobs and attract $86.3 billion if they come to fruition. That includes a lot of electric vehicle and battery manufacturers in addition to wind and solar plants. Thirty-eight states will share in the benefits — both Red and Blue.
Take Kansas. Panasonic is building a $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant primarily to supply Tesla, creating 4,000 jobs in the town of De Soto. And that’s just a start for the manufacturer — if the EV industry continues to make inroads.
Ruby red West Virginia is also attracting battery manufacturing plants, providing 21st-century jobs in a state where coal has historically fueled the economy. To that end, Sparkz Inc. and Form Energy will produce energy storage devices, creating hundreds of jobs. Sparkz chief executive Sanjiv Malhotra said the Inflation Reduction Act is the catalyst.
Yet, the state’s two congressional representatives opposed the law that made it possible — the same two who refused to certify the Biden presidency. Reps. Carol Miller and Alex Mooney have placed politics over economics, thinking this is their ticket to prolonged political lives.
E2’s Keefe says that in the short run, politics trumps economics. But that will change, pointing to electric vehicle factories that have revitalized Georgia and South Carolina — something that is playing out nationally. When their citizens work in modern factories and see those cars on the road, they will take pride. “Maybe people will start to think a little differently about green energy and climate change,” he said.
Cheap fossil fuels powered the industrialization era, but everyone alive today has experienced the effects of climate change, requiring adjustments. Capitalism can usher in the evolution by aligning profit-seekers with climate-friendly businesses. The market will reward companies embracing the challenge while the laggards get left behind.
Results over politics
Tesla is a national example. Just look to Kentucky, long-rooted in the coal sector: BlueOval SK is building two electric vehicle battery plants employing 5,000 people. It’s also building one in Commerce, Georgia, that will hire 3,000 workers.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is the greatest economic policy that this country and the world has seen in a very long time,” Keefe said. “It’s the equivalent of expanding the interstate highway system and going to the moon. America is getting back in the game.”
Politics now obscures the message. But results will speak louder than rhetoric — once the green energy economy starts flourishing.