Massive Government Subsidies + Mandates – Reality = Green Jobs

IER

15 years ago

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2009
Contact:
Laura Henderson, 202.621.2951
Patrick Creighton, 202.621.2947

Massive Government Subsidies + Mandates – Reality = Green Jobs

Senate panel looks further into what we already know; government control of energy markets hurts economic growth

Washington, DC – Several governors from across the nation testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on green jobs today. Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) – a free-market energy think tank that has conducted extensive research on this issue – released the following statement:

“While our government should be focusing on creating jobs through expanding all forms of American energy, the Senate environment panel held a hearing today aimed at furthering energy and economic policies that have failed in other parts of the world. The more green jobs our government subsidizes, the fewer blue-collar jobs are created here at home. And the less competitive we are in the global marketplace.

“It’s very simple, actually. The sole existence of these green jobs is the result of government mandates and subsidies. No matter how you phrase it, this is just bad policy. But we’ve seen this hand before. Spain has further ruined its economy because of its green jobs directives. And with unemployment nearing 10 percent nationally, the last thing our government should do is pursue policies that put Americans out of work.”

Key findings from the Spanish green jobs study:

For every green job financed by Spanish taxpayers, 2.2 real jobs were lost as an opportunity cost;
9 out of 10 green jobs created by Spain over the past 10 years are no longer in existence today;
Since 2000, Spain has spent €571,138 ($753,778) to create each “green job,” including subsidies of more than €1 million ($1,319,783) per wind industry job;
Those programs resulted in the destruction of nearly 113,000 jobs elsewhere in the economy and;
Each “green” megawatt installed destroyed 5.39 jobs in non-energy sectors of the Spanish economy.”

NOTE: Click HERE to watch President Obama praise Spain’s green energy initiatives.