Opinion/Rickman: Green manufacturing good for environment, good for jobs

Ray Rickman is a former congressional chief of staff, Rhode Island state representative and assistant secretary of state. One of the biggest challenges for environmental justice in the United States is the perception that we need to choose between a strong economy and a healthy environment. This false choice has been a gift to polluters in their fight against environmental protections.

I saw this firsthand when I was chief of staff for Congressman John Conyers of Michigan in the 1970s. While we were passing landmark laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, our opponents would terrify politicians and voters alike with exaggerated claims of layoffs and higher prices. They claimed even mild environmental regulations such as safely disposing of toxic chemicals would lead to mass unemployment. Their scare-mongering was proven wrong, but the effort to combat climate change faces similar opposition.

Donald Trump promoted the false choice of jobs or sustainability throughout his political career. As a candidate, he promised to restore manufacturing jobs and protect dying industries like coal mining. As president, he deregulated virtually every part of our economy to make it easier to pollute. Trump rolled back regulations on the disposal of toxic coal ash, made it easier for factories to emit poisonous mercury into the air, and eliminated the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. Despite these policies, nearly 1,800 factories closed during Trump’s tenure in office.

The key to returning good, blue-collar jobs to the United States isn’t making our air and water dirty again. Instead, we should embrace the green economy. Switching to renewable energy and electric vehicles will require batteries, magnets, motors and many other components. We shouldn’t build renewable energy technology with dirty components. The federal government should require them to be built sustainably, with the lowest amount of carbon emissions and hazardous chemicals possible.

In addition to helping our environment, this will also lead to a blue-collar manufacturing renaissance. The United States will never return to the industrial era of the mid-20th century, but we will outcompete every other country in sustainable manufacturing.

Thankfully, last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill focused on accelerating the transition to this new economy, which will create jobs here in Rhode Island. Revolution Wind is constructing an offshore wind farm that will create enough zero-emissions energy to power 340,000 homes every year. The construction will create good jobs but the broader supply chain offers even more economic opportunity.

Wind turbines, just like the batteries that power electric cars, require natural resources like the minerals neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium. These used to be made in America but, in the 1990s, China was able to take over the market because of their cheap labor and nonexistent environmental standards.

Thankfully, the United States can produce critical minerals using new, environmentally sustainable processes. Across the border in Woburn, Massachusetts, the startup company Phoenix Tailings is refining neodymium, a critical material used in building wind turbines and magnets for virtually every electronic device, without any direct carbon emissions or hazardous chemicals. In the process, it will create good jobs that don’t require a college degree.

Our government must do more to accelerate green manufacturing. For starters, the Biden administration should require defense contractors to use domestically manufactured, sustainable materials. This will protect our supply chain from disruptions such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Congress should pass the bipartisan REEShore Act to create a strategic reserve of rare earth elements vital for military manufacturing. Finally, more federal funding should be made available for the research and development of green alternatives to traditional manufacturing.

Green manufacturing shows that we do not need to choose between protecting our environment and creating jobs. Instead, we can combat climate change while rebuilding blue-collar employment. The only question is whether politicians will have the courage to follow through, or if they will be derailed by scare tactics from polluters and science deniers.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Opinion/Rickman: Green manufacturing good for environment, good for jobs