Antipollution program created 953 Delaware jobs: study

Delaware’s reduction in carbon emissions has created 953 jobs and generated $107.3 million in economic activity over a three-year period, according to a new report.

A study by Boston consulting firm the Analysis Group examined the economic benefits of nine states that adopted a 2009 initiative to cut carbon emissions. The program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, generated a combined $1.3 billion in economic activity and spawned 14,200 new jobs in those states from 2012 to 2014, according to the study released Tuesday.

Overall, RGGI slashed $460 million from the electric bills of customers living in those states, according to the study. The report did not detail how much of an impact the initiative had on Delaware residents’ electric rates.

The program involved Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Each state set a limit on overall carbon emissions that is expected to decrease over the program’s lifespan.

In order to achieve its emissions goal, each state is permitted to sell power plants permits to produce a certain amount of pollution. The states then use that money to reduce utility rates, improve energy efficiency, implement environmental job training or reinvest in antipollution technology.

Delaware has spent roughly $40 million of the funds it has generated from selling permits to power plants over the last three years. Of that total, $16.5 million was spent on increasing the state’s energy efficiency, another $16 million was spent on greenhouse gas reduction efforts, $4.8 million went to reducing power bills among low-income residents and $2.1 million was used to provide economic grants to companies focused on renewable energy technology.

Gov. Jack Markell praised RGGI’s impact on the Delaware economy.

“RGGI is good for consumers and the environment,” he said in a statement. “It serves as an incentive for cleaner, less carbon-intensive power supplies; while the reinvestment of RGGI proceeds into energy efficiency and other greenhouse gas reduction programs spurs the economy, creating capital investment and job creation.”

John Byrne, a professor at the University of Delaware Center for Energy & Environmental Policy, said the state’s reinvestment in energy-efficient technology is key to generating economic benefits through RGGI. Byrne added renewable energy companies are hiring workers to create and install new technologies. Those jobs are having an indirect benefit on other businesses in the state, Byrne added.

“When you create the technology jobs, the workers put the investment back into the local economy by spending it on restaurants and movies,” he said.

Byrne also noted the jobs created at these companies are high-paying, highly desired engineering and information technology positions.

“Creating better jobs makes Delaware more competitive,” he said.

At the time RGGI was proposed, some groups opposed the idea. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pulled the state from the program in 2011, claiming it was nothing more than an unfair tax on businesses.

While Byrne concedes the program does increase costs among less-efficient power plants, he said the energy industry operates on the same economic model as other sectors.

“When you buy a new, more-efficient laptop, you are putting out of business the companies that are building slower, outdated laptops,” he said. “That is what happens every day in our economy.”

Contact Jeff Mordock at (302) 324-2786, on Twitter @JeffMordockTNJ or jmordock@delawareonline.com.