Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, led a hearing in Washington, D.C. Wednesday to try to find new ways of boosting the number of "green collar" jobs in America. "I’m very, very pleased that we’re going to be focusing on some creative ideas to providing tax incentives to encourage small businesses to enter the renewable energy field," Braley says.
The director of Western Dubuque Biodiesel in Farley and the president of Green Prairie Wind Development in Prole testified before Braley’s subcommittee. "Although there’s been significant growth in renewable energy, it continues to make up only seven percent of the energy produced and consumed in the country," Braley says. Braley wants congress to consider a range of tax incentives to stimulate additional production and investment in renewable and alternative energy.
"Congress has already taken some significant steps along those lines to encourage renewable energy production," Braley says. More than three-quarters of the renewable energy produced in the nation comes from small firms, according to Braley, and the congressman advocates new tax incentives and reduced red tape for those businesses.