LANSING – Michigan stands to create or sustain 119,300 jobs each year throughout the economy if investments to repair infrastructure across the state are made, a report released Wednesday through the BlueGreen Alliance has found.

The report analyzes various sectors of infrastructure, including: roads and bridges, rail, transit, waste water, drinking water, electricity, natural gas and the smart grid.

Among those sectors, it concludes investing $2 billion per year over the next 24 years in roads and bridges would create or sustain an estimated 65,140 jobs yearly; investing $260 million a year in freight rail over the next 20 years would create or sustain an estimated 5,200 jobs yearly; investing $128 million a year in electricity infrastructure over four years creates or sustains an estimated 1,650 job yearly, and more.

“We need to … modernize the electric grid to be more intelligent (and) resilient,” said Jim Harrison, Region IV national representative for the Utility Workers Union of America. “The grid remains insufficient to meet current needs.”

Harrison also said the grid must be properly managed, and in doing so it can safeguard communities and create jobs while addressing the impacts of climate change.

The Alliance, a coalition of unions and environmental groups, said a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation a D+ average in 2013, and Michigan a D. The report card found that 38 percent of the state’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition, half of the sanitary sewer mileage was built before 1970, and that though transit ridership has grown significantly in the last two decades, the rise is outstripping capacity, the Alliance noted.

“The lack of investment in infrastructure ultimately leads to high costs paid by businesses and households,” said Jim Shaw, a business representative for SMART Local 7, a sheet metal union. “The job potential in these investments is too significant to ignore. Failure to invest now will mean more money in the long run.”

And Anne Woiwode, state director of the Sierra Club Michigan chapter, said anyone paying attention can see the devastating effects of climate change, even as recently as this past weekend when severe weather ravaged parts of the Midwest.

“Part of what we need to be prepared to do is make sure our leaders … recognize that there’s a challenge about reinvesting in our infrastructure in a way that prepares us for the future, increases energy efficiency and the clean energy we’re using, and creating good jobs,” she said. “These are things that Michigan desperately needs.”

She said dealing with broken infrastructure takes more time and money to fix than looking to invest in newer, cleaner, more efficient infrastructure. And many business groups have said the same thing, but the Legislature has yet to act on a sustainable transportation funding solution.

“This is always about the money. Where do you get the money from? And I think that highlighting what the need is and what the cost will be puts it out there for the governor as he starts to put together his budget,” said Rep. Andy Schor (D-Lansing), who was on-hand for the conference hosted by the Michigan AFL-CIO.

“When (Snyder) first came into office, he … said we’re going to do scorched Earth and then we’re going to rebuild,” Schor said. “Well, he did the scorched Earth and they cut a lot of things, and now it’s time to rebuild, and our infrastructure is an important piece of that.”

And while Schor acknowledged it is unlikely the Legislature will form a comprehensive solution before the year is up due to the end of construction season and the year in general, he still hopes something can be put together by the end of the year.

“I think the closer we get to the end of the year and the closer we get to an election the more unlikely it is,” Schor said.

Asked about using surplus money, Schor acknowledged that some should go to infrastructure but that Democrats are conflicted because of their desire – and his personally as well – to see more money go into education.

“My school district in Lansing got cut $200 per pupil and then last year got reinstated $5 per pupil and it was called a big win for Republicans,” he said. “I disagreed and I voted no, but we’re going to have a surplus this year, we’re going to have a surplus – it looks like – next year, and I think a lot of that should go to education, some should go to infrastructure. I think there’s a good mix that we could come up with.”

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