The West Coast clean economy

The West Coast Clean Economy Opportunities for Investment & Accelerated Job Creation A report commissioned by the Pacific Coast Collaborative Prepared by: March 2012 Alaska The Pacific Coast Collaborative On June 30, 2008, the leaders of the States of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, and the Province of British Columbia, signed the Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC) Agreement. [...] The West Coast jurisdictions form a mega-region with a population in excess of 50 million and a GDP of more than $2.5 trillion that collectively constitutes the world’s sixth largest economy.1 Opportunities abound for the members of the PCC to act jointly and cooperatively to maximize the benefits of their shared economies and to minimize the overlap of efforts to address shared priorities and cha [...] But at this time and with remarkable consistency, whether it is Governor Brown of California, Governor Kitzhaber of Oregon, Governor Gregoire of Washington, or Premier Clark of British Columbia, the leaders of the PCC have made clear that their main priority is to accelerate the creation of new sustainable jobs across the region and to stimulate the development of new markets and investment opport [...] Of the total new clean economy jobs created figure largely in the substance of the clean economy, the in the US in 2007, 21% were in California, Oregon, and opportunities for job creation and investment promotion Washington.3 Clean economy employment in California range far wider and find expression in all areas of public grew by 53% from 1995 to 2010, while jobs in the wider policy and private en [...] Implicit in the foregoing progress on the development and implementation of a is the fact that over the long-term, distortions of the energy multilateral regulatory regime governing GHG emissions marketplace that have artificially lowered the true costs reductions has been minimal, significant gains have been of fossil fuels serve as disincentives to the deployment of made by state and local gover