House Energy and Commerce Committee Explores Potential for Clean, Green Recovery | Article

With Congress back in session, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on September 16 titled Building a 100 Percent Clean Economy: Opportunities for an Equitable, Low-Carbon Recovery. The hearing considered prospects for green investments designed to spur an economic recovery as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Representative Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), chair of the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, stated in his opening remarks that COVID-19 has been a profound setback for the U.S. economy and has disproportionately harmed vulnerable communities. But, he noted that before the pandemic, the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors had been expanding rapidly, with job growth rising at twice the rate of overall employment. Tonko stated this could be traced back to green investments made in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (P.L. 111-5), and emphasized the need for similar investments in the current economic crisis. Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) underscored the urgency of such investments by citing a recent report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which showed climate change will cause extreme instability in the U.S. financial system, harming economic growth.

Witness testimony broadly agreed that significant federal investments would be necessary to spur an economic recovery and fight climate change. Devashree Saha, Ph.D., senior associate at the World Resources Institute, stated that although U.S. carbon emissions have decreased since 2005, most of the reduction can be attributed to the switch from coal to natural gas in the power sector. She argued that, to meet climate targets specified in the Paris Agreement, federal intervention will need to complement market processes and state and local government actions. Responding to a question from Rep. Pallone, Lonnie R. Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, agreed that federal support would likely be needed to bring back clean energy and energy efficiency jobs lost due to COVID-19.

Discussion revolved around the economic benefits of green investments. Dr. Saha stated that a $1 million investment in green energy can create 7-8 full-time jobs per year, compared with only 2-3 per year in the fossil fuel industry. In her written testimony, Dr. Saha outlined several key investment areas, including energy efficiency and energy assistance programs, public transit and green transportation infrastructure, electrifying school and transit buses, electrical grid modernization, and tree restoration. Stephenson suggested that a green recovery could benefit organized labor if a recovery bill included robust labor protections such as prevailing wages, which establish standard wages to be paid to government contractors by regulatory agencies, usually set through union bargaining; project labor agreements, which set the wages, benefits, and labor conditions of construction projects through pre-hire union bargaining; and requiring employers to recognize their workers’ rights to join a union.

Witnesses also spoke to the need to prioritize marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by climate change. Dr. Denise Fairchild, president of the Emerald Cities Collaborative, argued that at least one percent of any green investment bill should be directed at workforce and business development for low-income communities and people of color. Dr. Fairchild and Stephenson agreed on the importance of expanding access to unions to people of color. Dr. Fairchild suggested that diversity in the clean energy sector could be improved with workforce development programs that grant industry-recognized certificates, citing Los Angeles’s Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Students (ACES) program as a successful example. Dr. Fairchild also laid out proposals for a range of other investments in marginalized communities, including climate resilient infrastructure and community-owned food, water, and energy services.

Dr. Saha’s statements emphasized the necessity of putting climate concerns at the core of the recovery effort. "The investments needed for the low carbon transition are significant, but the returns—in economic opportunities, improved public health, and avoided climate catastrophes—will far exceed the costs,” she said. “America stands to benefit economically from taking strong climate action, which is why it is well past time for Congress to enact comprehensive climate legislation to accelerate America's transition to a clean, thriving economy.”

By: Joseph Glandorf