Nov 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Richard Locker The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.


Gov. Phil Bredesen said Tuesday his administration's efforts to make Tennessee a center for renewable energy research and development will pay off in new jobs and economic growth over the long haul.

Opening a Tennessee Solar Symposium, Bredesen played down the likelihood of immediate economic impacts from a planned solar array in Haywood County and solar institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

"I want to emphasize this is not like an auto plant, where there's a specific opportunity where you go out and compete with other states and a decision is made and it's over. I think this is a very open-ended thing and if we play our cards right, can be a huge piece of the economy."

The governor told executives of the state's nascent solar industry and economic development officials attending the seminar that Tennessee has moved into the vanguard of states jockeying to make clean energy a focal point for economic growth.

In addition to the solar farm and institute, both funded by federal Recovery Act dollars, private companies announced plans over the past year to invest $1 billion each in two large manufacturing plants in the state -- Wacker Polysilicon in Cleveland and Hemlock Semiconductor in Clarksville.

They are in addition to solar-panel component manufacturers already here, such as Sharp in Memphis and AGC Flat Glass in Kingsport. And the solar initiative builds on Bredesen's efforts to develop a cellulosic ethanol industry in the state.

"What we're trying to do is sharpen up our strategy now. I don't know if there's anybody in the world smart enough to know exactly what alternative energy is going to prevail 10, 20 or 30 years from now. But I absolutely believe that the development of an economy based more and more on noncarbon and non-fossil-fuel-generated power is going to be important going forward, and it's important to get our markers down," he said.

"What I would ask you is, there's a million different ways in which we can build economic growth and jobs around this, to begin thinking of those ways. Treat this as serious," he told about 150 attendees.

Bredesen listed five goals of his initiative: advancing clean-energy technology, promoting use of renewable energy, lowering fossil-fuel emissions and reducing dependence on foreign oil.

"And in doing all these things, we're not going to cost jobs but create jobs," he said.

Contact Nashville Bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923.

WHO PAYS THE BILL?

Bredesen: Don't charge states for national health reform

Gov. Phil Bredesen estimated the additional cost to the state of the health reform bill approved by the U.S. House as nearly $1.4 billion over the first five years of the reforms, 2014 through 2019. A Senate plan would cost about $750 million.

Details

Those costs incurred through an expanded Medicaid program would hit all states hard, when most are facing huge revenue losses.

Bredesen said he will try to persuade Congress to pay for reforms it approves without state input into the process.

"States can't print money and we can't borrow money for operations. It's either got to come from a tax increase or cutting services elsewhere -- and by the time I get through cutting this year, I don't think there's going to be much taste for cutting more services."

-- Richard Locker

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services