Newsplaining

By: 
Ethan Stoetzer

The new industrious complex
     As a transplant form the East Coast, wind turbines were few and far between in my home state of New Jersey. By the time I left, solar energy was just hitting mainstream as a way for home owners to invest in energy production and cost saving measures.
     Just six months in to my tenure in Iowa, I realize why wind turbines weren’t a thing on the East Coast, and have also realized the true impact of these space-age technologies to the communities I cover.
     In New Jersey, in the wealthy suburbs of Camden County, solar panels and wind energy were all considered to be “green.” The primary reason to have them or invest in them was to make yourself feel less guilty about polluting the environment. Out there, it was more on the individual to make the change to these forms of energies. Only in Iowa have I seen it the responsibility of the government to invest in these energies.
     Iowa is second in the nation as of December 2015 in wind production (6,212 MW), behind Texas (17,713 MW). Let’s face it, Texas could fit the whole country in it, and with limited interference with setback regulations, one could pretty much put a wind turbine up anywhere. Franklin County alone produces 300 MW of energy, with a $1 billion expansion set for the next two years, which could up the county’s production to nearly 800 MW. The property taxes off of these farms is in the tens of millions.
     With the election of GOP candidate Donald Trump however, the future of these wind farms is a little bit hazy.
     Trump, along with the remainder of the GOP leadership, wants less commitment to the clean energy institutions. He has publically said he wants America to have less of a contribution to the Paris agreement, which was agreed upon by several nations to try and keep global temperatures from increasing two degrees Celsius; he has gone on record calling for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, and is proposed to nominate Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic. Trump has also gone on record to promise energy independence from oil and coal producing countries, to focus on natural gas, oil and coal production in the US.
     His stances on energy are wishy-washy with his flip-flopping on previously held positions, but the fact of the matter remains, he has not said anything about what should happen to wind and solar energy production.
     In order to be able to afford creating wind turbines and financing solar farm operations, energy companies rely upon tax credits from the federal government to build such infrastructure. With tax incentives, states, such as Iowa, covet these companies to increase the tax base to finance projects that it couldn’t normally afford, like repairing those broken roads and bridges, as well as financing multi-pass snow removal, as well as maybe granting a tax break to small business owners to set up shop in small communities. When a county is making tens of millions off of these industries alone, it helps these small businesses.
     The golden opportunity also only belongs to Midwest states who have the space, and land to build these types of infrastructure. No metropolis can place a wind farm in the city, and skyscrapers cast shadows, making it hard to justify spending money on solar panels.
     But what will happen to these tax breaks, the small log that keeps the entire Jenga tower of small town progress, standing?
     Trump’s angle towards energy independence is rooted in climate-change denial (which isn’t true, as historic records prove that temperatures are rising, lakes are drying up, and snow fall on a global scale is lower than it has been), but is also rooted in jobs. His campaign speeches have expressed sympathy for boom-towns-turned-ghost-towns because of closed coal plants.
     The interesting thing here is that in 2014, there were 179,000 jobs in solar energy, roughly the same as in the coal industry, at a time when coal produced 39 percent of the nation’s electricity. Solar however, added 36,000 jobs in 2015 (all according to Vox.com), at wages of $20-$24 per hour in manufacturing, installation and sales.
     Coal is cheaper to derive energy from, but is more risky (people have to jump in coal mines with no guarantee they’ll come back out) in that there is a limited supply, it is much more damning to the environment, and now, energy companies are burning natural gas, which is cleaner and produces more energy.
     But this recommitment to coal not only is worse for the environment, but a total overlooking of what clean energy means to the Midwest and to the rest of the county, as well as the globe.
     Drilling for oil in the US will increase oil supply in the nation and thus, the globe. In February of 2016, prices per barrel were at $27 per barrel, which made gas cheaper and products cheaper, but also threatened the state of the economy, because of those cheap prices. OPEC called the US bluff and kept the oil production going at high speeds. America stopped drilling because it was harming businesses by tearing the floor out on the price of goods. People didn’t by new, fuel efficient cars, people didn’t buy new gas consuming products because there wasn’t a need to. The economy was poised for a slowing of wages.
     The jury is still out on whether natural gas is productive because it poisons waterways, and maybe Trump’s commitment to it will make research more affordable to reduce such contamination, but without the EPA, water contamination won’t matter. Increased natural gas will further put coal out of business.
     Increased oil production and natural gas production will mean commitment to clean energy isn’t as concrete as it once was, meaning tax breaks aren’t necessary since the country is getting its energy elsewhere. This means no new wind farms or solar panels in states and counties that need it most, like Franklin County, IA. Where towns rely on the sudden influx of jobs and millions in tax bases. Trump’s energy stances, currently, don’t appear to bode well for these small towns, or the long-term economy.
     Despite the fact that climate change should be taken seriously, the financial incentives to keep funding renewable energy cannot be ignored. Some might say that the technology isn’t good enough as fossil fuels, but that’s exactly the point. It isn’t that the coal jobs went away, they were moved to other industries. Alliant needs employees to run its farms. Alliant needs engineers to come up with a better use of resources to produce more energy. Solar research needs more people to figure out how to make such equipment, more useful. This sector of employment could only grow under the current circumstances.
     Renewable energy is the new manufacturing industry of the US. Energy will never go away. People will always need power. There will always be more people, meaning there will need to be more people to run this technology. The job market is infinite, practically, and the Midwest is truly the beneficiary. 

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