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BUSINESS CONNECTIONS

Emeryville Feels Energy of Green Corridor Partnership

John VanLandingham
The Emeryville Connection Staff
February 2008

New bio-fuel research programs at UC-Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab are powering a “green corridor” collaboration ranging from Emeryville to Richmond, a corridor that local leaders say will create new businesses and jobs.

Already, Emeryville is feeling the effects of that collaboration with its neighbors –Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the university—by the increased demand for office space to support the research, City Manager Patrick O’Keeffe said.

“Some of the immediate concrete benefits to Emeryville are the need for office and lab research space and research jobs. That will be the spin off each of the cities,” O’Keeffe said.

“There are two major bio-fuel research efforts going now: One sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy with a $250 million grant to UC-Berkeley and the other a $500 million program from British Petroleum. The University knows that the potential for spin-off from those efforts would benefit the East Bay. U.C. – Berkeley Chancellor Dr. Robert Birgeneau invited mayors of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley and Richmond to join him in a discussion of what these efforts would do and how the cities could support them and what spin-off benefits existed for the cities,” he said.

According to O’Keeffe, one project is underway in Emeryville to provide nearly 600,000 square feet of research space.

It is the demand for research space, supplies and labor at many levels to support these research programs that is powering the creation of so-called “green-collar” jobs.

As part of that collaboration, if any one of the four cities cannot accommodate a new “green” or environmentally sensitive business, it will refer the business to another city in the corridor in an effort to keep that business in the East Bay, O’Keeffe said.

Formation of the corridor was announced late last year at a press conference at U.C. - Berkeley where the four cities’ mayors, LBNL and U.C. representatives declared their collaborative intent to turn the East Bay shoreline “into an engine of a 21st-century ‘green’ economy,” according to U.C. spokeswoman Cathy Cockrell.

A statement of principles signed at that meeting, says in part: “Our region has a long and distinguished history in environmental awareness, conservation success and policy innovation. Each of our entities is committed to bringing our unique strengths to the table and building the heart of the East Bay into a dynamic ‘Green Corridor.’”

Councilwoman Nora Davis, who was mayor when the corridor collaboration was announced, said it is vital to Emeryville’s future.

“More and more we’re going to have to work on a sub-regional basis to attract these businesses and to use resources to train both our young people and transitional people to work in these new businesses. And new efforts will bring new jobs, so if we can get three or four cities to collaborate it will benefit all of us,” Davis said.

Not only will the cities refer new “green” businesses to each other, they will collaborate on policies to create the conditions that will make the corridor attractive to those businesses. That includes developing research and office space and training programs to provide a ready labor supply with the requisite skills, officials said.

U.C. spokeswoman Cockrell cited a recent San Francisco State University study concluding that “green-collar” jobs can significantly improve environmental quality. She cited solar-panel installation, recycling and home weatherizing as examples of “green-collar” jobs.

John VanLandingham is a writer for The Emeryville

Connection. If you have a question or comment, please contact him at ecocnews@gmail.com