Working For Jobs

by Keith Harrington.

The war over America’s coastal-energy future has officially
begun, and the result could determine whether we see wind turbines or catastrophic
oil spills along our coastlines in coming years.

The opening salvo came in early July, when everyone’s favorite
climate-hating, fossil-fuel-loving industrialist villains, the Koch brothers, released
a so-called “cost-benefit analysis” of New Jersey offshore-wind development plans through
their front group Americans for Prosperity.

The focus on New Jersey is no big surprise. Fresh off their recent
success in manipulating the state’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie into
backing out of the Northeastern cap-and-trade system known as RGGI, the brothers grim are honing in on what they see as a
weak spot in the clean-energy movement’s eastern front. Hoping to score a
knockout blow, the duo have packed their offshore wind “analysis”
with distortions.

Topping the report’s list of misrepresented facts are the jobs
benefits. In fact, forget about misrepresentation; the report actually failed
to represent those benefits altogether. Considering the impressive job-creation
numbers cited in a range of other studies on offshore wind [PDF], it’s hard to imagine how any analysis
that wasn’t commissioned as an intentional piece of fiction could have made
such a glaring omission. Indeed, a study by the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory indicates that the 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind power New Jersey is
planning to build could result in nearly 5,000 construction and maintenance jobs. Adding to the imbalance of the Kochs’ equations, their report completely discounts wind power’s benefit as a relief valve against foreign-oil dependence or New
Jersey’s need to import electricity from other states.

Of course, this parade of misinformation should come as
little surprise considering the track record of the key Koch crony in the Garden State: AFP New Jersey chapter director and Tea Party high priest Steve
Lonegan. A longtime extreme-right gadfly of the New Jersey political scene, Lonegan
earned his Koch-worthy credentials publishing false accusations about political opponents
during his time as mayor of Bogota, N.J., and has been accused of violating
state election laws and defrauding taxpayers in a 2008 run for governor. What’s
more, as chronicled in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Lonegan was the local force behind the
“dishonest scare-campaign” that led to Christie’s retreat from RGGI.

With Lonegan leading the offensive, it’s clear the Kochs
are planning to make the fight over New Jersey’s coasts a particularly ugly
and bruising one. The situation also bodes ominously for other states up and
down the Mid-Atlantic Bight that are considering wind projects, from Connecticut
to North Carolina.

Thankfully, for all the dollars and deceitfulness the Kochs
have in their arsenal, their victory is far from assured. As their failed
attempt to cut down California’s climate law in 2010 proved, the Kochs can be beaten by a well-organized, grassroots-powered opposition with truth on its
side. And that’s exactly what they’re up against in New Jersey and up and down
the Mid-Atlantic Bight, where a robust coalition involving everyone from Google to the United Steelworkers to the League of Women Voters is ready to stand up for wind and smack down any
BS Lonegan and the Kochs serve up.

Game on, boys. Bring it.

Related Links:

There are now more green jobs than brown ones, and they pay better

Critical List: It’s hot; 2.7 million Americans work in clean energy

Green jobs growing even as economy wilts

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