by Josh Freed
Whether it was steel, the railroad, the automobile, or the Internet,
America’s leadership in technological innovation has made it the
world’s economic power for the last 100 years. Today, we’re on the
brink of the next revolution with the transition to clean energy. Of
course, new technologies inevitably push old ones aside—personal
computers, for example, killed typewriter industry in the 1980s.
The transition to clean energy will inevitably have the same effect.
While many communities will immediately prosper from new solar and wind
plants or advanced battery production, others will initially lose jobs
and even businesses or industries. Yet these same communities that
might suffer during the transition, particularly those in the
industrial Northeast and Midwest and rural South and Plains, could
capitalize on clean energy. They just don’t have access to the economic
tools to do it on their own. That is why Third Way worked with Rep. Dan
Maffei (D-N.Y.) to develop Clean Energy Business Zones (CBiZ).
CBiZ recognizes that the private sector and particularly small
businesses—not government—are in the best position to create new
jobs. It creates specific incentives for these businesses to locate in
areas that have skilled workers or a modern infrastructure but have
lost jobs or been economically disadvantaged by the change from
conventional to clean energy. This will help spur growth in areas that
too often in the past missed the economic benefits of innovation.
Make no mistake, this is not just about creating the next Microsoft or
securing a massive wind turbine factory. In places like Rep. Maffei’s
Syracuse-area Congressional District it could also mean the difference
for a contractor who wants to expand his building efficiency business
or allow a researcher to hire the staff she needs to manufacture a new
type of LED lighting.
This program would be modeled on the successful Empowerment Zone
program, but would be distinct and would focus specifically on helping
communities take advantage of clean energy. The zones would provide
businesses substantial financial incentives to build such sectors
including employment tax credits, increased business expense
deductions, and favored capital gains treatment.
America has led virtually every technological revolution of the past
century. We’ll do it again with clean energy. But we have the
opportunity to make sure that communities that missed out on the
economic booms of past transformations don’t miss out yet again. The
CBiZ program is one important tool we can use to help American business
grow where growth is needed most.
Related Links:
The policy and politics of Obama’s $2.3 billion in clean energy tax credits
