What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Friday, January 22,
2010
Governor Says Michigan’s
Clean Energy Economy Continues to Grow
In her weekly radio address, the governor said today
that Michigan’s clean energy economy continues to
grow with the state receiving a federal grant this week of almost $6 million to
train more than 1,000 workers and place them into green
jobs.
“Green jobs range from the construction workers who
install solar panels or insulation in your house to the engineer who researches
and designs the product,” the governor said. “People who receive training
through this grant will work in the fields of advanced battery production,
energy-efficient building construction and solar energy. They’ll be
training for occupations such as engineers, technicians, assemblers and
installers.”
The U.S. Department of Labor grant is funded by the
federal Recovery Act. The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and
Economic Growth will administer the grant in partnership with the Council for
Labor and Economic Growth, the state’s workforce investment
board.
This week’s federal grant is the third one Michigan has received
this month for training people for green jobs. Earlier, Michigan received more
than $18 million in Recovery Act funds to train workers for the clean energy
economy.
Key
messages:
- These federal
grants complement Michigan’s Green Jobs Initiative which is
helping to ensure that green companies have the trained workers they need to
grow and prosper.
- A recent state
report showed that Michigan has more than 109,000 green jobs,
but that number is growing. In 2009 alone, the work of the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority
set the stage for more than 20,000 green jobs to be created or
retained.
- The Recovery Act
funds for job training received by Michigan this month reinforce the economic
strategy that we developed seven years ago. In that time Michigan has invested
more than $1 billion to help nurture the growth of clean energy and green
manufacturing in our state, from advanced batteries and electric vehicles to
solar panels and wind turbines.
- Our investments,
together with Recovery Act dollars, are producing green jobs and making
Michigan’s
economic future brighter… and greener. Michigan is moving from the Rust Belt to the
Green Belt.
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