By TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Big Push for alternative energy jobs
LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whatever one may think of her politics or management skills, is a paragon of public comportment. She's always calm, carefully spoken, fastidious about avoiding showy perks and trappings of power.
That's why I was startled, during an interview in her office this week, to hear Granholm say, "I feel very Machiavellian about this," referring to her desire to bring alternative energy jobs to Michigan. According to definitions of Machiavellianism I consulted, this suggests that she might deceive or manipulate others, or use any means necessary to get those jobs.
"I think this is such a moment for us to capitalize on, creating this whole new sector here," Granholm added, warming to her cause. "And if other states have done it without the resources that we have, then we can certainly explode onto the scene."
Problem is, Michigan is a laggard, not a leader, in wind-power generation and other clean green technologies that could help the environment, reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and, yes, replace at least some of the gazillion manufacturing jobs we've lost.
Michigan is a laggard because other states have beaten us to the punch with policy actions that make them look attractive and welcoming to inventors, entrepreneurs and giant companies that have spied alt-energy as a growth opportunity.
Back in 1991, Iowa became the first state in the nation to adopt a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which mandates a state to generate a specified portion of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal or other alternatives to fossil fuels.
By 1997, Massachusetts, Nevada and Minnesota had renewable standards. Today 24 have an RPS, and four others have nonbinding goals for adoption of renewable energy. Michigan is not among them.
In testimony last week before state Sen. Bruce Patterson's energy policy committee, Seth Dunn, general manager of strategic marketing for Atlanta-based GE Energy, said more than $9 billion was invested last year in wind-energy facilities in the United States. Of that total, 96% went to states with renewable standards.
"We are now at a point in the industry where the presence of RPS is very important to our investment decision," Dunn said. Fred Keller, CEO of Cascade Engineering in Grand Rapids, agreed.
"Michigan has a onetime opportunity to win a leadership role in competition among many states in the renewable energy industry that is growing at over 30% a year. But it takes enlightened policy in addition to our many other assets to do so," Keller said at Patterson's hearing.
Cascade recently launched a new venture to produce small wind turbines for home and commercial use. Keller recommended that Michigan adopt a standard mandating that 10% of electricity come from renewable sources by 2015, citing a national study that estimated 34,000 new Michigan jobs could come from wind and solar energy projects alone.
Granholm is trying to get the Legislature to put RPS on a fast track for approval and expects action by the Michigan House on a bill this month. But she's worried that things could bog down in the Senate, where the Republican majority has expressed concerns about whether electricity costs will rise. Wind power, Granholm insisted, will be as cheap or cheaper than future power from new coal-fired plants.
Sadly, Michigan's pokey progress toward a renewable energy policy initiative hasn't come from ignorance of the fact that alt-energy could be a big job creator for the state.
In 2002, a year before Granholm took office, Republican Gov. John Engler broke ground in Detroit for NextEnergy, the nonprofit formed to accelerate development of an alternative energy industry here. Granholm pushed alt-energy hard in her 2005 State of the State speech.
"RPS is the single most important policy initiative that must pass to demonstrate to the world that we are serious about alternative energy," NextEnergy CEO Jim Croce told me Wednesday. "Without RPS we're an also-ran."
"The issue is urgency. We have to get in the game," Granholm said.
Even if she needs to go Machiavellian to make it happen.
Contact TOM WALSH at 313-223-4430 or twalsh@freepress.com
1 comment:
Gotta love those Michigan senate republicans. What is their mascot? Oh yeah, it's the Ostrich isn't it?
Actually, I think they may really be spies sent here from Iowa to keep us out of the game. I can't think of any good reason why they would stand in the way of an RPS. Unless it was say DTE or Consumers power... Nahhh, not them.
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