As chairman of the Senate’s newly created Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is at the forefront of efforts to create a clean energy economy.
Burlington Free Press writer Nicole Gaudiano described Sanders as "the Green General" in the U.S. Senate as part of a profile that appeared in the newspaper on November 1. Here are excerpts:
Sanders’ five-member panel is part of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Boxer introduced Sanders recently as someone who has been “focused like a laser beam on green jobs.”
Sanders co-wrote two green-jobs programs in 2007. One authorized training for clean-energy technology jobs. The other used block grants to help build energy-efficient homes and retrofit old buildings with newer technology. Both programs received stimulus funding and stand to get more under Senate global-warming legislation.
Sanders also has brought home funding for clean-energy projects, including the installation of solar panels at public schools and at the Vermont Air National Guard’s facilities at Burlington International Airport.
“What we’re trying to do is, at the national level, develop legislation and funding which transforms our energy system,” Sanders said during an interview. “At the state level, we’re trying to make Vermont a model of what we think the country can be in terms of energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”
Sanders has held two subcommittee hearings — one in Washington and one in Vermont — focusing on green-job development and sustainable energy. In November he turns to solar-energy jobs. He wants people to know that solar energy works all across the country, not just in Southern California.
The purpose of the Green Jobs Subcommittee, he said, “is to be as specific as possible about showing the potential of energy efficiency in making our planet safer and in creating jobs — and the same with wind, solar, geothermal, biomass.”
Sanders’ interest in green jobs reflects Vermont’s economy, said Geoffrey Brown, senior government-relations officer with the Pew Environment Group. A Pew study in June showed that the number of clean-energy jobs in the state — now more than 2,000 — increased twice as fast as the number of jobs overall in Vermont between 1998 and 2007....
(Sanders) understands concerns from lawmakers representing coal states who worry about rising electricity costs, something he said global warming legislation would address.
But complaints about taxpayer subsidies, especially in the context of billions being spent importing oil, get Sanders riled up.
“What about the jobs that we’re not creating, or the jobs that we’re creating in Saudi Arabia — right? — rather than in the United States of America?” he asked. “So when people say that, you know, give me a break, all right.”
Some of those voicing concerns about green jobs are Sanders’ political friends and allies, including labor groups....Vermont members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are “absolutely concerned” about job quality and have expressed that to Sanders, said Matt Lash, spokesman for the 1,200-strong Local 300.
“Especially when we’re pouring public funds into these so-called green-collar jobs, we need to ensure there’s some job quality standards attached to the public funds,” Lash said.
Sanders said labor’s concerns are his concerns, and he has worked closely with labor and environmental groups on the issue.
He said green jobs will range from “very, very well-paying” to “not so well-paying.” For instance, engineers will make more than assembly-line workers at Northern Power Systems, a Barre producer of wind turbines.
“But that’s not radically different from any other form of economic development,” Sanders said.
He’s quick to acknowledge there will be “economic dislocation” as the United States moves away from coal and foreign oil. But he already can see the beginnings of green-job creation in Vermont.
Thanks to federal stimulus money, he said, the Central Vermont Community Action Council will weatherize more homes. Northern Power Systems and Barre-based SBE Inc., which makes parts for hybrid and electric cars, also will be expanding with the help of federal energy grants, which will lead to more jobs, he said.
“There will be some people who lose their jobs,” Sanders said. “But I believe at the end of the day, there are going to be a lot more people who receive jobs.”
