DALLAS, N.C. — Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen visited Gaston County on Thursday to discuss investments in clean energy recently made through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act.
During her North Carolina visit, Secretary Yellen toured Livent, a manufacturing facility in Bessemer City that makes lithium hydroxide for batteries.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper joined Yellen's tour of the manufacturing facility, which is innovating ways to create smaller batteries.
“Lithium is critical to moving to a clean energy economy and overall cleaning up the environment," Cooper said.
In a speech at Livent, Yellen said the administration is "pursuing policies fit for the American economy in the 21st century." She said this means, among other things, investing in domestic manufacturing and addressing climate change.
Boosting domestic manufacturing can secure supply chains, the secretary noted.
Part of boosting domestic manufacturing in clean energy is “creating well-paying jobs for construction workers, mechanics, technicians, electricians, support staff, and in significant numbers," Yellen said.
Yellen pointed to the tax credits for clean energy manufacturing provided in the Inflation Reduction Act, which, she said, will make it cheaper for companies to invest in new clean energy technologies.
“We’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting, for this kind of infrastructure investment in the country, we finally have it," Cooper said.
Cooper said that North Carolina is leading the way in renewable energy and jobs and that the state is starting to see the benefits of the Biden Administration's energy policies.
“When you make real investments in infrastructure, there isn’t instant gratification these are generational investments," Cooper said.
Yellen stopped by Gaston College to deliver remarks about the Inflation Reduction Act earlier in the day. There, she touted the Biden administration's efforts to concentrate a majority of its clean energy investments to benefit rural areas.
She chose to speak at the school because it offers specialized certificates in electrical systems technology for renewable energy and photovoltaic.
Meanwhile, when it comes to the state of the economy, Yellen said the economy is making a historic recovery, and she's hopeful people are left with optimism.
“Inflation has now come way down," Yellen said. "And now wage gains are really translating into real income, so my hope is Americans gradually see things are getting better. We believe the longer-run investment strategy that we both talked about today, with the improvements and really good jobs created, will make a difference.”
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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