- For every 1 green job financed by Spanish taxpayers, 2.2 real jobs were lost as an opportunity cost

- 9 out of 10 green jobs created by Spain over the past 10 years are no longer in existence today.

- Since 2000, Spain has spent €571,138 ($753,778) to create each green job, including subsidies of more than €1 million ($1,319,783) per wind industry job.

- Those programs resulted in the destruction of nearly 113,000 jobs elsewhere in the economy.

- Each green megawatt installed destroyed 5.39 jobs in non-energy sectors of the Spanish economy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 21, 2009
Contact:
Patrick Creighton 202.621.2947
Chris Tucker 202.346.8825

Let the Inquisition Begin

Spanish Prof. Returns to the States, Sets Out to Set the Record Straight on His Country’s Failed Experiment with Green Jobs

WASHINGTON – Four months removed from the release of his study on Spain’s experience with the mass government subsidization of so-called “green jobs,” Spanish professor Gabriel Calzada returns to the United States this week, prepared and eager to debate critics of his groundbreaking report, but heretofore finding no one willing to explain or defend that criticism.

“President Obama no longer cites Spain as an example for the United States to model itself after in spending billions of taxpayer dollars on temporary, make-work ‘green jobs’ – in large part due to this study,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), which commissioned the Spanish report.

Added Pyle: “But the president’s rhetorical about-face on Spain has done nothing to dissuade the interest groups, and even some of his own political staff, from continuing to cast aspersions on the report, its author, and even IER. Now Calzada is back. And even though he’s offered to debate anyone, anywhere, anytime, on any terms, all we’ve gotten back is the melodic sound of crickets.”

Following a recent white paper on the study issued by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Dr. Calzada sent letters ahead of his visit to Energy secretary Steven Chu, NREL director Dan Arvizu, and EPA administrator Lisa Jackson – thanking each for taking the time to investigate the conclusions of his study, and inquiring whether they would be interested in defending their analyses in person. Invitations for debate were also extended to the Center for American Progress, a left-of-center think tank in Washington that has produced a steady stream of ill-informed commentary on the study over the past four months.

As yet, no one has responded.

Specific to the NREL polemic, IER released a rebuttal piece earlier this month identifying the manifold errors in the agency’s report, and asking, more broadly, how it was decided that taxpayer resources should be used to generate a political document referencing a study produced on another continent. The IER response to the NREL white paper can be found in its entirety here.

Dr. Calzada will be in Washington, D.C. starting today, and extending through Thursday, September 24. Those interested in setting up an interview with the professor should contact Patrick Creighton (202.621.2947) or Chris Tucker (202.346.8825). Copies of all letters sent can be found below.

• Calzada letter to Chu/Jackson (9/15/09)

• Calzada letter to Chu/NREL (9/14/09)

• Calzada letter to Chu/Jackson (4/30/09)