Iowa praised for work towards new energy economy

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Representatives of environmental groups and labor unions praised Iowa, and specifically Gov. Chet Culver, for its success in attracting green jobs to the state.

Gov. Chet Culver in Husum, Germany, last September for Europe's largest wind energy show.

At a panel discussion on the potential of investing in the clean energy economy sponsored by the Blue Green Alliance, Iowa was singled out as being ahead of the curve in working to attract companies that create jobs and promote renewable energies.

“Iowa has captured five wind turbine manufacturing factories in recent years, factories that could have easily been built in Minnesota,” said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance Action Fund, a coalition of the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers of America working to promote clean energy economic development. “Started by [former Gov.] Tom Vilsack and continued today by Gov. Culver, they are reaching out to companies and bring really good jobs to their state.”

Iowa is at or near the top nationally in production of ethanol and ranks third in wind energy production, behind Texas and California. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry has seen a 45 percent growth in the number of turbines installed and in megawatt capacity. In Iowa, more than 30 wind energy companies have expanded or located facilities in the state since 2003, including Texas-based Trinity Industries, which said in May that it would build wind turbine towers in the Maytag Corp. plant in Newton that was closed down in 2007. The Dallas company plans to hire 140 workers with the $21 million project.

“The myth is that environmental regulation costs people jobs,” Foster said. “In reality, it’s both or neither. These industries create blue-collar jobs with a green purpose.”

These are manufacturing jobs like those that the country has been losing of late that will not require advanced degrees or years of re-training existing work forces.

“The kinds of jobs created by these companies are exactly the kinds of jobs we already have,” Foster said.

The Economic Policy Institute study said 1.4 million new jobs could be created around the country simply from meeting the standards set in the Kyoto Protocol.

Cathy Duvall, national political director of the Sierra Club, said this year the political debate has focused on clean energy versus expanded oil drilling.

“But that’s not what we’re dealing with,” she said. “It’s a debate over whether driving our economy into the future versus keeping it stuck in the past.”

Gerry Parzino, staff representative of the United Steelworkers in Minnesota, said Iowa is part of a small number of states that have been ahead of the curve in building these new industries.

Foster said it has to do with the dedication of Iowa’s leaders, pointing to the fact that Iowa has had an economic development office in Frankfurt, Germany, for many years.

“Most of these [wind energy] companies are European companies,” he said. “Iowa is seeking them out, and it’s really paying off with good jobs.”

Since 2007, Iowa has established the Office of Energy Independence and the Power Fund, both with the goal of encouraging growth in the clean energy industry.