'No cancer': Biden takes swipe at Trump over notorious claims
President references predecessor's views on 'windmills' while touting his administration's policies that have led to explosive sector growth
President Joe Biden touted his record of green energy job creation during a visit Thursday (20 July) to a Philadelphia shipyard where he attended a steel-cutting ceremony to mark construction start of the first US offshore wind subsea rock installation vessel (SRIV).
His administration's policies, including support for landmark climate legislation, are “creating millions of good paying clean energy manufacturing jobs, including offshore wind,” Biden said at the press conference at the Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania.
“Notwithstanding what the other guy said, windmills do not cause cancer,” Biden said.
It will be the first rock dumper built to comply with the Jones Act, a US law that prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from calling in at consecutive American ports or points on the outer continental shelf, including wind turbines.
The vessel’s construction will employ over 1,000 workers across nine unions “using steel plates made by the United Steelworkers in Indiana, and generating an estimated $125m of US economic activity each year”, according to the White House.
Biden used data from trade group Business Network for Offshore Wind (BNOW) to trumpet $16.6bn in new market investments since he took office in 2021 — more than quadruple the amount previously — with nearly half following passage of climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), he signed last August.
The IRA provides some $369bn in federal tax breaks and spending to further the country's energy transition, achieve a carbon free electric grid by 2035, and meet the administration's greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
The White House noted that 18 offshore wind-related vessels have been commissioned since 2021, with manufacturing and construction occurring across multiple states in the Northeast and along the Gulf of Mexico. Capex for ports and manufacturing surged by $3.5bn in the same period.
“The administration’s actions have contributed significant momentum to our growing industry,” said BNOW CEO Liz Burdock.
The White House maintains that its 30GW by 2030 goal will generate some 80,000 direct jobs.
“When I think climate, I think jobs. I think union jobs,” Biden said.
“Philly Shipyard is proud to contribute to the delivery of a vessel which will be essential in achieving the nation’s offshore wind targets,” said Steinar Nerbovik, company CEO.
The shipbuilder is majority owned by Norwegian industrial conglomerate Aker.
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