Froma Harrop: Don’t want green energy jobs? We’ll take them

“Some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that’s underway in America, but nobody — nobody — can reverse it. Nobody. Not when so many people, regardless of party or politics, are enjoying its benefits.” Still-President Joe Biden said that on a recent visit to Brazil.

His administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, for example, included $400 billion in subsidies for solar power, electric vehicles and other renewable energy technologies. Its goal is to slash carbon emissions, the main driver of climate change and the environmental chaos it unleashes.

President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax.” And drilling remains his answer for every energy question.

Never mind whether Trump or anyone else thinks climate change is real. One thing that is very real is the jobs the IRA is creating. It happens that 60% of these new jobs are in red states. If their Republican representatives don’t want them, no problem. There are plenty of other takers.

But they apparently do want these jobs. At least 18 House Republicans have made clear to House Speaker Mike Johnson their opposition to repealing the IRA. Meanwhile, some of the big oil companies that held fundraisers for Trump have clean energy projects funded by the IRA. They also don’t want the IRA canceled, at least the parts that benefit them.

Responsible world leaders regard a warming planet as a security as well as environmental threat. Melting ice glaciers and associated rising sea levels are flooding towns and cities, endangering ports, roads and other infrastructure. Higher temperatures are stoking more intense storms, heat waves, droughts and wildfires. They are wrecking ecosystems.

This is a worldwide problem demanding a worldwide solution. Under Biden, the U.S. has met a pledge to increase international climate financing this year to more than $11 billion.

Obviously, neither Trump’s heart nor his brain is engaged in dealing with this threat to our future. And so where can Americans turn for leadership on this existential crisis?

They can turn to California. If it were a country, California would be the world’s fifth largest economy. It’s not an easy place for Trump to push around, and the Golden State cares a whole lot about climate change.

For example, Trump seems hot to end the electric vehicle tax credit. If that happens, Gov. Gavin Newsom says, California will offer its own tax rebate. And he seems to be structuring the credit so that some popular Tesla models won’t qualify for it.

The governor insists that he merely wants to help other carmakers “take root” in the EV market. But another motive is to stick it to Elon Musk over the Tesla founder’s California bashing and his glomming onto Trump.

On this matter, California has a good deal of muscle. About 1 in 3 EVs sold in the U.S. are sold in California. As other carmakers bring out new and less expensive EV models, California could help break Tesla’s longtime dominance.
Trump says he wants to open the environmentally fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. We’ll see.

“I would be surprised if any major oil company, or even any middle oil company, submits bids,” Larry Persily, publisher of the Alaska-based newspaper Wrangell Sentinel, said. “It is a high-cost, highly speculative play.” And for all the whining about the price of gas, it’s already below $3 a gallon in many places. You know, that supply-and-demand thing.

Biden’s various legislative accomplishments have unlocked an estimated $1 trillion for green energy technologies and the factories needed to build them.
America is going ahead with the transition. Trump can’t stop it. And to those who want to pass on its economic benefits, go ahead. Others will happily take your place.

Froma Harrop is a nationally syndicated columnist.