The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track global extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Democrats’ IRA Set to Create 100,000+ US Green Jobs
Dear Diary. After all of the negativity that I’ve been presenting from many recent posts, it’s high time that I bring some good news to the table and from my country to boot. President Biden and the Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction act in 2022, which had the biggest investment in green energy to combat climate change from any country in the history of our planet. Now in 2023 those proverbial trees that were planted are about to bear fruit unless the House Republicans are successful in chopping the, down because of a looming debt ceiling crisis.
Well, let’s be positive and suggest that the IRA will move forward with all of its funding. Here are more details on green jobs that the big package is set to generate:
‘Only the Beginning’: Democrats’ IRA Set to Create 100,000+ US Green Jobs (commondreams.org)
Workers install solar panels on the roof of a house in Oak View, California.
(Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
‘Only the Beginning’: Democrats’ IRA Set to Create 100,000+ US Green Jobs
“Thanks to President Biden’s affordable clean energy plan, businesses are investing in manufacturing like never before, and planning to create good-paying jobs in every corner of the country,” said one climate campaigner.
Feb 06, 2023
A leading climate action group on Monday published a report revealing that the 94 clean energy projects announced since U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law last August are set to create more than 100,000 green jobs.
Climate Power—which published the report as part of a new six-figure national ad campaign touting the growing green economy—said that since the IRA became law without any Republican support last year, “companies are racing forward with massive investments to build our clean energy future.”
“New manufacturing in wind, solar, batteries, and electric vehicles—along with storage projects across the country—mean new, good-paying jobs for hard-working Americans,” the group continued. “In the six months since the landmark climate and clean energy investments became law, clean energy companies have announced more than 100,000 new clean energy jobs for electricians, mechanics, construction workers, technicians, support staff, and many others.”
“As the largest U.S. investment in clean energy and climate in history, this national clean energy plan will continue to reshape and recharge our economy for many decades to come,” Climate Power added.
While green groups have generally praised the IRA’s historic $369 billion investment in renewable energy production and innovation, activists have condemned provisions including fossil fuel tax credits and mandatory lease sales on public lands and at sea.
The 94 new clean energy projects in the Climate Power report—which are spread across 31 states and have a combined investment value of $89.5 billion—include:
Forty new battery manufacturing sites in places like Van Buren Township, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and Florence County, South Carolina. So far, 22 companies have announced plans for new or expanded electric vehicle manufacturing in Pryor, Oklahoma; Montgomery, Alabama; Highland Park, Michigan—and more. A further 24 companies shared plans to expand wind and solar manufacturing in cities including Pueblo, Colorado; Perrysburg, Ohio; and Georgetown, Texas. The majority of the projects are in seven states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
“Thanks to President Biden’s affordable clean energy plan, businesses are investing in manufacturing like never before, and planning to create good-paying jobs in every corner of the country,” Climate Power executive director Lori Lodes said in a statement.
“This is only the beginning—we’re months after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and we’re already at the precipice of a renewed manufacturing, made-in-America boom that will create opportunities for millions of Americans, all while reducing toxic emissions that harm the health and wellbeing of our communities,” Lodes added.
Last month, the International Energy Agency said in a report that “the world is at the dawn of a new industrial age—the age of clean energy technology manufacturing,” and that green manufacturing jobs will more than double by the end of the decade if countries worldwide live up to their climate and energy pledges—a huge “if” given that global emissions remain at record levels.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
Related:
Here are some “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is some more new January 2023 climatology:
Here is more climate and weather news from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
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Guy Walton… “The Climate Guy”