Minnesota launches into the green economy

This is a guest post from Kate Ellis, the 1Sky Minnesota Organizer at Fresh Energy (cross-posted from the Fresh Energy Blog).

Minnesota received great news Monday when Governor Tim Pawlenty unveiled a green jobs plan to spur economic development while preserving our environment and tackling global warming. The new program, dubbed the “Green Jobs Investment Initiative” includes tax exemptions and credits for businesses that create green jobs, credits specifically for small-scale green businesses, incentives for innovation in the green tech sectors, and monitoring of state energy usage and emission levels.

Pawlenty believes attracting investment in green jobs is essential to lift up Minnesota's economy:

"If the economy continues in its awful state, and it looks like it's going to for the foreseeable future, it will be more important than ever to do things that will try to encourage investment in job growth in Minnesota," Pawlenty said at a Capitol news conference. "And for a very small investment in money, these proposals will do that."

Minnesota has lost 19,000 jobs in the past 12 months, and officials predict the state could see another 30,000 jobs disappear in 2009. The state's jobless rate was 5.9 percent in September, compared with a 6.5 percent national unemployment rate.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), conservatively estimates that an additional 114,000 green jobs can be created in Minnesota in the next 30 years. In this time of economic uncertainty it is reassuring to know that our state – and hopefully our country – are embracing the new energy economy and investing in green job development, rather than old, dirty, unstable industries!