Earlier this month, Governor Glenn Youngkin withdrew Virginia from consideration for a brand-new Ford electric vehicle battery factory that was expected to bring in $3.5 billion in investments and create 2,500 new jobs in a very rural part of the commonwealth. I believe that refusal is a mistake: for Virginia’s communities, who want to save money on their monthly bills with U.S. clean energy, and for Virginia’s workers, who could have scored high-paying jobs in this sought after field. Did the governor hurt rural workers to grandstand for national pundits? I fear so.
To see what could have been, look at Georgia, another southern state headed by a Republican governor. Nearly three dozen clean energy manufacturing projects have been announced in the Peach State, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and those plans could create some 28,000 jobs. Or look to Kentucky, led by a Democratic governor, where Ford is building a $5.8 billion battery manufacturing facility that will create 5,000 jobs. It’s the state’s largest economic development project ever.
Virginians, like other Americans, have so much to gain from the clean energy manufacturing boom being driven in part by new federal investments. We also have so much to lose from wrongheaded politicians saying “no.”
For one, saying “no” to clean energy means perpetuating our dangerous reliance on volatile fossil fuels, which adversaries can wield against us and our allies. Just look at what Vladimir Putin has tried to do. His illegal and unwarranted invasion of Ukraine led to higher fuel costs that have driven up inflation, raising costs for things like groceries. Compare that to clean energy: Autocrats can’t stop the wind turbines, solar panels, or geothermal wells like they can the flow of oil or gas.
And in Virginia, saying “no” to clean energy means refusing new jobs. Over the past decade and a half, Virginia invested more than $200 million into an industrial site in Pittsylvania County that could have housed the Ford battery plant and brought 2,500 new jobs to one of Virginia’s most rural counties. Today, that lot is empty.
No one should be giving up on American manufacturing or its clean energy future. The opportunity is especially strong thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act provides for made-in-America climate and clean energy jobs, manufacturing, and consumer savings through the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit. It allows companies to earn tax credits worth up to 10% of the production cost of critical minerals and components for clean energy infrastructure. Similarly, the CHIPS Act includes the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, which provides tax credits worth up to 25% of the investment cost for new factories that make semiconductors, the key element of solar panels and electric vehicles.
They’re powerful incentives. Between August and December last year, $40 billion dollars of investments and 20 new or upgraded clean energy facilities were announced across the U.S., according to a report by the trade group American Clean Power.
That’s the power of clean energy manufacturing. With it, Virginia and the U.S. can greatly benefit. With it, we can break our reliance on oil and gas, create thousands of good-paying jobs here at home, and help Americans save money. But our leaders must say “yes” to clean energy jobs and manufacturing. The alternative, abandoning workers and surrendering to volatile fossil fuels, is too dangerous.
Virginia Beach native Dave Belote is the Managing Partner and CEO of DARE Strategies LLC, where he has facilitated the permitting of 36 terrestrial wind projects comprising 9.4 gigawatts of wind power and is helping develop wind projects off both coasts. He serves on the board of the Southeastern Wind Coalition and is Southeast Chapter Director for Environmental Entrepreneurs. Prior to his private sector work, Dave served for 24 years in the Air Force, retiring as commander of Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, and 2 years as a senior executive in the Department of Defense. He is also a five-time Jeopardy! champion.