4,000 jobs possible in renewable energy: study
The Blue-Green Alliance of the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers is calling for a national requirement of 15 percent renewable electricity by 2020. The Renewable Electricity Standard is part of the energy bill before Congress.
At a press event using the Steel Winds wind farm on Lake Erie as a backdrop, local environmental and labor advocates said policies to encourage renewable energy can help create parts-making jobs, as well as construction, assembly and maintenance work.
The study, by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, estimates the economic impact of adding 185,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity nationally over 10 years. There are 167 companies in Erie County poised to benefit by supplying wind, solar, geothermal and biomass generating industries, it said.
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NDP takes aim at approval of SaskPower 8 per cent rate hike
REGINA - The NDP Opposition is condemning the provincial government’s decision to approve the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel’s recommendation to increase SaskPower’s rates for the first time since 2018.
The Crown electrical utility’s rates will increase four per cent this fall, and another four per cent in 2023. According to a government news release issued Thursday, the new rates will result in an average increase of approximately $5 on residential customers’ bills starting on Sept. 1, 2022, and an additional $5 on April 1, 2023.
“The decision to increase rates is not taken lightly and came after a thorough review by the…