Green jobs in Missouri? We’ll take ’em.
Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond is saying “green” jobs are too expensive, according to this story from Bill Lambrecht in our Washington bureau. Mr. Lambrecht reports:
“Green jobs are not so much created as they are bought with massive taxpayers subsidies,” Bond said at a news conference in the Capitol.
He remarked at one point: “It sounds really neat to think we’re going to have wind-powered jobs, except I don’t see cars going down the road with propellers on them.”
Missouri is among states receiving a bounty of energy-related support from the stimulus package, including $128 million for weatherization programs that put people to work and $44 million in block grants for energy efficiency in construction, transportation and other improvements.
Back in January, economist and NYTimes columnist Paul Krugman warned of opponents of the Obama adminsitration using bad-faith arguments against his stimulus plan. He wrote:
The true cost per job of the Obama plan will probably be closer to $100,000 than $275,000 – and the net cost will be as little as $60,000 once you take into account the fact that a stronger economy means higher tax receipts.
The Natural Resources Defense Council reported in May 2008 that there are 270,000 jobs in Missouri that could see growth or wage increases by “putting global warming solutions to work.:”
The report identified:
Solving global warming will require all kinds of workers with a wide range of skills. Tens of thousands of Missourians have good-paying job skills that are representative of a broad range of skills needed to build clean energy solutions:
- Carpenters will be needed to make buildings more energy efficient. There are over 25,000 carpenters in Missouri, paid an average of over $20 per hour.
- Electricians are essential to expanding mass transit solutions. There are nearly 12,000 electricians in Missouri, paid an average of nearly $24 per hour.
- Operations managers are needed to manufacture of energy-efficient automobiles. There are nearly 28,000 operations managers in Missouri, paid an average of nearly $41 per hour.
- Machinists craft essential components for wind power. There are nearly 11,000 machinists in Missouri, paid an average of nearly $15 per hour.
- Welders are vital to solar power manufacturing. There are over 10,000 welders in Missouri, paid an average of nearly $15 per hour.
- Industrial truck drivers transport supplies and fuels for the cellulosic biofuels sector. There are over 17,000 industrial truck drivers in Missouri, paid an average of nearly $13 per hour.
And it identified some of the work to be done as:
- Building retrofitting
- Mass transit
- Energy-efficient automobiles
- Wind power
- Solar power
- Cellulosic biofuels
Van Jones, the White House special adviser on green jobs, defined “green jobs” for NPR’s “Tell Me More” program last week: “”˜You can think about a green-collar job as a blue-collar job that’s been upgraded, or upskilled, to better respect the environment,’ says Jones, who is also the best-selling author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.”
Jones told “Tell Me More” that the country shouldn’t pass up this opportunity: “”˜We have a tremendous once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect the people who most need work with the work that needs to be done,’ Jones says, referring to such ”˜green’ jobs as putting up solar panels or retrofitting buildings to conserve energy”
Sen. Bond may not think so, but creating jobs by making our homes, buildings, cars and products as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible is something Missourians should welcome.
