President Donald Trump’s announcement on Thursday that the United States will pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement could bring drastic results to the metro area, according to the founder a local wind energy company.
Joe Spease, who founded Wind So Hy in 2008 in Overland Park, said the metro area and surrounding Midwest continue to serve as a great spot for renewable energy companies.
“There's potential for millions of jobs here,” he explained. “There is no category of business that offers greater potential for this country than clean energy."
However, after Thursday’s announcement, Spease predicted that the momentum of clean energy implementation in the Midwest would be slowed.
“The economic news is especially bad for the country but especially around here,” he explained. “This is a threat to the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs right here in the Kansas City area."
Kansas, Spease explained, continues to be one of the top states for wind energy production.
With the U.S. now pulling out of the Paris deal to cut carbon gas emissions, he believed renewable energy production could slow.
Spease wondered if big companies, such as Kansas City Power and Light, would scale back on implementing clean and renewable energy projects across the metro area as a result of the announcement.
“Utilities are in a bit of a bind,” he explained. “They have to be careful because we’re not sure what the next election will hold on this subject."
With the future progress of renewable energy now uncertain in upcoming years, Spease predicted that the metro area would see an impact from the president’s decision.
“It's going to artificially prolong the competitiveness of the fossil fuels,” he explained. “It's going to take a toll. It's going to hurt the people of this area a lot."
Kansas City Mayor Sly James also issued a letter on Thursday saying Kansas City will stay committed to the Paris Climate Agreement.
The letter was signed by 60 other mayors from cities across the country.
Proud to join 60 fellow #ClimateMayors to adopt goals of #ParisAgreement. The world cannot wait? & neither will we https://t.co/qwcIlLECXn
— Mayor Sly James (@MayorSlyJames) June 1, 2017