By Crystal Garcia
TERRE HAUTE — Forget white or blue collar, when it comes to jobs, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson and running mate Dennie Oxley want to create green-collar jobs.
The pair announced their “Green Job Initiative” Wednesday in Indianapolis, though Oxley stopped in Terre Haute and Long Thompson stopped in Fort Wayne beforehand. This was the first in a series of policy proposals introduced for their “One Indiana Plan” to create a better Hoosier economy.
Hoosiers have been facing record-high gas prices, high grocery prices, high foreclosure numbers and low housing sale numbers, Oxley said.
“… But at the same time, we have a governor in office now who wants to travel around and advertise how good things are and how well we should feel and how good we should feel and how rosy the picture is,” he said. “And we’ve been to every part of this state and I can assure you, the sentiment of Hoosiers does not match up with that of the governor.”
Nearly 340,000 existing jobs could benefit from investments in clean energy, according to a Blue Green Alliance study. More than 25,000 jobs from wind turbine manufacturing and nearly 7,500 jobs in solar component manufacturing stand to be created, according to a Long Thompson news release.
Though Oxley said this sector of the economy hasn’t been pursued or expanded by the current administration, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ campaign disagrees.
“Gov. Daniels will continue to work to make Indiana a leader in wind power, clean coal, biofuels and the green energy of tomorrow,” said Cam Savage with the Daniels campaign, responding by e-mail.
Some of the progress made during Daniels’ term includes developing the world’s first clean coal power plant in Edwardsport, the nation’s second-largest wind farm in Benton County and the world’s largest soy-diesel plant in Claypool, Savage wrote. More than 24,000 acres of land has been put into conservation, including the restoration of the 8,000-acre Goose Pond wetland.
Oxley said the Long Thompson plan would replace many of the manufacturing jobs the state has lost. From June 2007 to June 2008, Indiana lost 44,000 jobs, he said.
Part of creating these jobs would be a “green boost,” which would give companies a one-time $500 tax credit for any new green job created and an additional 3 percent tax credit for businesses that buy equipment to lessen its environmental impact or energy usage. According to Forbes Magazine, Indiana is the 49th “greenest state” in the nation and has the sixth-highest carbon footprint in the country, the news release stated.
“We believe that to bring Indiana’s economy back to where it needs to be, it’s going to take all 92 counties,” Oxley said, which is why each of the counties would be categorized in a three-tier system with graduated job growth incentives distributed based on economic indicators such as unemployment rate, median household income, population growth and assessed property value per capita in the county.
Other parts of the Green Job Initiative would increase funding for research and technology for energy and environmental research; create a clean energy fund to invest in innovative clean technology and renewable energy projects; direct investments to sustainable energy technology and environmentally responsible companies; and modernize Indiana’s net metering rules.
The plan also targets improved energy efficiency at the Statehouse with new building standards, energy audits, flex-fuel vehicles and a green purchasing policy.
Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.
