NEW ENERGY’S ELECTION TALLY

For Clean Tech, One Big Election Win and an Uncertain National Landscape
Clint Wilder, November 3, 2010 (Clean Edge)

"…California voters delivered a [resounding] victory to the state's clean-energy economy in the nation's most important vote for clean tech, defeating Proposition 23 by an overwhelming 61-39 percent margin…Californians also elected stalwart clean-tech supporter Jerry Brown as their next governor by a 13-point margin…And Golden State voters also re-elected another great clean-tech ally, Sen. Barbara Boxer, to her fourth term.

"…[T]he defeat of Prop. 23…especially with its overwhelming numbers, sends a strong message to future potential efforts to roll back progressive, clean tech-promoting initiatives around the country. The specter of Prop. 23 was the clean-tech community's first big, direct political challenge since the election of President Obama, and it passed with flying colors…[but] Election Day 2010 didn't turn out so well for the clean-tech industry. The ascension of dozens of House and Senate candidates not at all committed to a clean-energy economy - including outright climate-change deniers like Wisconsin Senator-elect Ron Johnson - severely diminishes hope of any significant action at the Congressional level for the next two years."

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"But the state level is really where the action is for creating economic incentives to start, relocate, or expand clean-tech businesses…[T]his year's results create a big air of uncertainty. In governors' races, clean tech, particularly the wind power industry, lost two of its best political champions in Iowa's Chet Culver and Ohio's Ted Strickland. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn held on in a squeaker, although a recount is possible. Colorado fared much better, with former Denver mayor and clean-energy advocate John Hickenlooper's convincing gubernatorial win boding well for continuation of the state's progressive policies under retiring Gov. Bill Ritter.

"Four other significant clean tech-supporting governors—Michigan's Jennifer Granholm, Wisconsin's Jim Doyle, Kansas' Mark Parkinson, and Pennsylvania's Ed Rendell, were either term-limited or chose not to run, and in all four races the statehouse changed from Democratic to Republican hands. That doesn't necessarily mean disaster, as outgoing Republican governors and clean-tech champions Arnold Schwarzenegger (California) and Charlie Crist (Florida) have shown…"

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"[T]he outlook is uncertain. Clean-tech players in Michigan, for example, are hopeful that GOP governor-elect Rick Snyder, co-founder of nanotechnology-investing venture firm Ardesta and a board member of The Nature Conservancy in Michigan, will continue Granholm's aggressive push for clean-tech jobs.

"In the Northeast there was better news, as Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a staunch clean-tech supporter, survived a tough challenge to win re-election by a solid seven-point margin…But the U.S. can't compete for 21st century jobs and economic leadership on a global scale if clean tech is identified strictly as a blue coastal state, Democratic-liberal phenomenon…[which means this was] a mixed-bag election for the clean-tech industry…"