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The Weirton, W.Va., mill employed 13,000 people at the turn of the 20th century. In 2003, Weirton Steel filed for bankruptcy. Downtown stores were boarded up, and young people were moving out of Appalachian towns.
Weirton’s hopes were dashed in May 2023 when I made a trip there as secretary of energy. Form Energy, which makes large-scale steel-air batteries to store energy for the electric grid, has just broken ground on a 550,000-square-foot plant. Currently, production is in full swing, and when the plant reaches full capacity, it will employ more than 750 people, mainly residents who have been displaced from the mills.
Form Energy is one of nearly 1,000 clean energy companies that have expanded across the U.S. in the past four years, with about 800,000 new manufacturing jobs — evidence that manufacturing innovation has begun. America.
But you can kiss that goodbye if President Trump and the new Congress roll back the law that caused it. Our economic competitors are waiting to attract overseas companies and turn our innovation into prosperity.
The United States used to be very good at making things. Around the middle of the 20th century we made half the world’s steel and half the world’s cars. In the 1970s, more Americans worked in the construction industry than ever before.
Then, other countries started hunting our technology. They attracted foreign companies with free capital and cheap labor. In America, politicians stuck to their laissez-faire guns. If employers want to move production abroad, who are we to ask the free market? But our economic competitors did not play by the same rules. The free market did not take our jobs; China and Mexico have done this by tempting companies with financial incentives.
When I became governor of Michigan in 2003, many workers who started their careers building the world’s best cars ended their careers without pensions—sometimes even training their replacements overseas. sea before giving his trademark. About 60,000 US businesses closed between 2001 and 2011.
There should be no confusion about why new businesses are reopening: America has finally played hardball against its economic rivals. Former President Joe Biden introduced three pieces of legislation — the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Low Inflation Act — that created tax credits, grants and loans to make it work the manufacture of American products on American soil with American workers. This is especially true of clean energy technologies such as solar panels and batteries.
Form Energy received bipartisan Infrastructure Act funding to help build its business. It will also require a tax through the Inflationary Reduction Act on battery production. Over the next decade, clean energy legislation could add nearly $2 trillion to the US economy.
Yet Mr. Trump appears ready to restore the very stimulus that is reviving American manufacturing. He promised to kill the electric vehicle tax credit that helped save auto companies, including my hometown. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order declaring an urgent need for more energy, which he described almost exclusively as oil and gas. There is no mention of solar, which creates thousands of new manufacturing jobs and was the largest source of energy in the last year.
This is a dangerous economic strategy. Other governments are patiently waiting to remove subsidies, loans and taxes so they can use similar tools to talk to the next generation of offshore companies. .
Consider electric cars: It’s no secret that China wants to dominate the global market. Today, it accounts for more than half of the world’s electric car production. But more than 450 car battery companies have announced they are moving to America or expanding operations here since the Anti-Tax Act was passed – many of them leaving China to do so. It would be a national shame to bring this entire industry back.
And we stand to lose more than work or pride. Demand for electricity in the United States will increase by 15 percent over the next decade due to new centers, businesses and transportation. If the Trump administration is forced to phase out wind, solar and other clean energy sources, we will lose access to technologies that contribute to the energy mix. Monthly utility bills will rise, and blackouts and power outages will become a common experience.
The government is also deceiving itself if it believes that “drill, baby, drill” will lead to a surge in jobs. The United States is already the world’s largest oil producer and exporter. The combination of hot oil prices and market demand has made many industry leaders reluctant to invest heavily to increase productivity.
The transition policy is sensitive. The next administration wants to turn the page, but some policies, and some people, should be spared from this struggle. I think of the auto workers in Michigan and the steel workers in West Virginia – the skilled women and men left to question whether America is still using its talent. It took us too long to respond, but thanks to these new manufacturing laws, we can finally speak up YES.
Protecting US manufacturing jobs requires strong public-private partnerships and continued investment in domestic clean energy production. When we turned off the lights in our office on Monday, we left the next resident on to success — already underway. It is up to them to decide if they want to take advantage of it.
