Extreme Texas Storm Underscores Why Bold Infrastructure Investment Is Necessary, Urgent, and Could Create Thousands of New Jobs

Washington, D.C. — President Joe Biden will travel to Texas on Friday to oversee the state’s recovery from the tragic and devastating consequences of Winter Storm Uri – impacts that experts suggest will have an impact on the state for years to come.

Texas’ economy has taken a significant hit from Uri, and the storm has highlighted the urgent need for bold investments to modernize the American electrical grid and build a clean energy economy — actions that could save lives and create thousands of good-paying union jobs.

Modernizing this infrastructure and investing in renewable energy, as proposed by President Joe Biden as part of his ‘Build Back Better’ agenda, could help prevent future mass blackouts caused by climate-change-exasperated winter storms.

“The extreme cold in Texas and its tragic consequences are yet another example of why this is the moment for bold investments to modernize our grid and build a clean energy economy. These investments could help save lives and protect the health of communities plagued by extreme weather, and they would create thousands of good-paying union jobs to help our economy recover from the dual crises of COVID and climate change,” said Lori Lodes, Climate Power’s executive director.

Winter Storm Uri knocked out power in much of Texas after natural gas, coal, and nuclear generators failed. These power outages showed the urgent need to renew the country’s electrical infrastructure and demonstrated the unreliability of fossil fuels in crisis times.

Data shows that  there we can rebuild our economy, create new good-paying union clean energy jobs, and stave off future climate change-fueled disasters by investing in infrastructure: 

Jobs numbers from investing in grid infrastructure

• A 2020 report from E2 showed that with even a modest investment of $25.4 billion in grid modernization, we could create 73,100 direct, indirect, and induced jobs each year for five years.
  • 6,108 jobs in Texas
  • 5,219 jobs in California
  • 3,611 jobs in Florida
  • 2,955 jobs in Illinois
  • 2,691 jobs in New York
  • 2,858 jobs in Ohio
  • 2,423 jobs in Pennsylvania
  • 2,465 jobs in Michigan
  • 1,836 jobs in North Carolina
  • 1,864 jobs in Georgia

Jobs numbers from investing in energy efficiency

• A 2020 report from E2 showed that with even a modest investment of $60.7 billion in accelerating building energy efficiency, we could create 737,200 direct, indirect, and induced jobs each year for five years.
  • 60,547 jobs in Texas
  • 53,071 jobs in California
  • 36,969 jobs in Florida
  • 28,756 jobs in Illinois
  • 28,874 jobs in New York
  • 27,811 jobs in Ohio
  • 25,340 jobs in Pennsylvania
  • 25,205 jobs in Michigan
  • 19,467 jobs in North Carolina
  • 19,560 jobs in Georgia