Clean energy jobs are our nation’s future, and earlier this month, I had the chance to visit a local business here outside Rochester that is ready to start creating hundreds of new jobs - but they're being held up by banks that won't lend to small entrepreneurs.
We here in Western New York and the Southern Tier are uniquely suited to play a major role in the development and implementation of our coming clean energy economy. Already, many of our small and self-employed businesses are ready and willing to lead our district into this exciting new future.
What we lack is the leadership needed to jump start our clean energy economy. Take for example Canadice Construction in Canadice, NY. In July 2008, Dick Gammel, the owner of Canadice Construction, faced surging gasoline prices to the point where he nearly couldn’t afford to fill the 100 gallons of diesel fuel he needed each week to run his on-site generators.
Dick, like many an American before him, decided to take matters into his own hands and innovate. Using an ingenious combination of wind and solar generators, Dick created a mobile, clean energy, construction site power generator. Admittedly, Dick thought his invention wouldn’t last more than an afternoon – it ran without fail for the rest of the season and his model continues to power several new construction sites throughout our district.
Dick Gammel has a viable, ready to ship, clean-energy power generator that produces zero emissions and costs nothing but the initial purchase price. Dick’s problem, however, is that banks won’t give him the start-up funds he needs to mass produce and market his product in order to make his business viable. After receiving $800 billion in taxpayer money to cover their mistakes, banks shouldn’t be allowed to continue to withhold the money needed to jumpstart our economy – money that quite frankly, we the American taxpayers gave them.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and they're going to create 90% of the new jobs over the next decade. Not only that, but small businesses are also the most innovative sector we have, developing new technologies and taking risks that will keep America on the cutting edge in alternative energy and clean technology.
We need to ensure that small businesses have access to the capital they need to grow - and that means getting the banks who received taxpayer bailout money to start lending again. It also means simplifying and reducing the taxes for small businesses to help them hire more employees and create jobs.
We have the knowledge, we have the industrial and manufacturing infrastructure, we have the colleges and research institutions eager to begin innovating, and we have companies like Canadice Construction that are ready to start hiring - now we just need the leadership in Washington to make it happen.
In Congress, I vow to fight to bring clean energy jobs to our district, to make sure that our financial institutions start lending again and to enact the necessary tax incentives that our innovative small businesses need. But, I cannot do it without your help. If you agree, please click here to make a contribution today and join my team.