Everett leaders bullish on green jobs

Published 5:35 pm Friday, May 22, 2009

I’ve been thinking about the Obama administration’s plan to create a bunch of green energy jobs and wondering how the Northwest will fit in.

I know you don’t have to have sunshine all the time to get some real benefit from solar energy, but it was hard for me to get my head around the idea that green energy will be a big part of what we do here in the rainy Northwest.

I’m rethinking that now based on talking with some Everett business folks who recently came back from a trip to Washington, D.C., to talk about the local economy, Naval Station Everett and some other issues.

“I’m excited about becoming a nation that actually produces something again,” said Crystal Donner of Perteet Engineering of Everett. Donner is chairwoman of the board for the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce and joined a chamber contingent on the D.C. trip.

Donner joined a lunch with Van Jones, an author and activist who is Obama’s special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation.

Green jobs involve a lot more than just solar energy, of course, and Donner said she was interested in what Jones had to say about wind, tidal and hydroelectric power, which she said could have an important role to play in the Northwest economy.

She noted that the Snohomish County PUD and the Navy are already experimenting on how to use sophisticated underwater turbines in Puget Sound to extract energy from the tides.

“Those turbines have 6,000 machined parts,” she said. “We have a work force that’s well-trained and could really start producing that stuff.”

Donner noted that the Northwest is loaded with aerospace companies and others that have skilled machinists who could transition to energy work. She’s excited that such jobs would provide work for steel makers and other workers who would be paid well.

“It’s nice to see economic development that isn’t low-income jobs,” she said.

Louise Stanton-Masten, the president of the Everett chamber, said she left the nation’s capital excited about the possibilities.

“There are going to be a lot of workforce development dollars,” Stanton-Masten said. “I came back fairly positive that there will be an impact on local business.”

Let’s hope she’s right.

With all the speculation these days about whether the Boeing Co. will start shifting work from the Northwest to the South, where the unions aren’t as strong, it’s nice to hear that we might have a chance at a new type of good-paying jobs here.

Memorial Day scam

Susan Bengstom of Snohomish called to warn readers that she received a call Friday from a company that never provided its name but was asking for money to help homeless Vietnam veterans.

The mother of a Navy medic serving Marine Corps units, Bengstom she couldn’t say yes fast enough and asked to be mailed information that she could consider.

That’s when another person got on the line “and repeatedly tried to get my credit card information over the phone,” Bengstom said. The more she listened, the more certain she was that the callers were trying to pull a scam, she said.

She hung up when it was clear that the callers weren’t going to send information. “This is ugly and I hate it,” said Bengstom of what she viewed as an attempt to take advantage of her support for the military.

She wanted to warn others, so consider yourself warned.

There are a lot of scammers out there. Their numbers rise during events or holidays where they can play on people’s emotions.

As I’ve said before, never provide information about your identity or your finances on the phone or the Internet to people you didn’t contact first after checking to see if they’re legitimate.

Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459, benbow@heraldnet.com