Press Release from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Dec. 21, 2011:

Hydro-geological Report Says Ash Pond Constructed With Unstable Coal Waste

New Johnsonville, Tenn. (December 21, 2011) – A number of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) risky coal ash waste impoundments were built using coal ash as a construction material, much like the failed pond at TVA’s Kingston plant. Today the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN), Earthjustice and Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) together submitted a letter to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in which they highlighted the findings of a new report by an expert hydrogeologist. That report closely scrutinized the history and construction of “Ash Island,” the impoundment that holds toxic coal ash waste from TVA’s Johnsonville coal plant. The report also found that Johnsonville’s Ash Island was partially constructed using coal ash.

Following the December 2008 Kingston disaster, engineering reports demonstrated that degraded ash inside the Kingston dikes contributed to the catastrophic failure there. When initially used in dike construction, coal ash has properties similar to earthen material. However, when exposed to water over long periods of time the cohesion of ash will degrade, leading to weakened structural integrity of the coal ash pond and possible failure. This is the scenario that occurred at TVA’s Kingston plant.

“The dangerous conditions behind the Kingston disaster were not isolated. TVA has constructed other waste ponds using coal ash as a building material. Knowing this, TVA must move quickly to close these coal ash ponds and TDEC needs to make sure the closure is done safely,” said Josh Galperin with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “On the third anniversary of the Kingston disaster we call on TVA and TDEC to ensure the disaster isn’t repeated.”

On October 31, a bluff in Oak Creek, Wisc.—which supported a coal ash pond for We Energies’ Oak Creek Power Plant—collapsed into Lake Michigan. Upon further investigation regulators from Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources explained that the bluff itself was constructed using coal ash and that water leaking into the bluff over the past half century likely caused the failure.

TVA is in the early stages of closing all of its wet coal ash ponds as it transitions to dry ash management. SACE, TCWN, Earthjustice and EIP have been investigating TVA’s plan for the Johnsonville Ash Island and in the process of that investigation, discovered that the pond, like Kingston, was constructed with ash. The impoundment at TVA’s Colbert plant in northwest Alabama also uses ash as a construction material. Given that at least three ponds have used this dangerous method it is likely that the problem is more widespread.

“TVA has a long history of building dikes with coal ash, and as we now know from the Kingston disaster, ash is not durable building material,” said Abigail Dillen, Coal Program Director at Earthjustice. “TVA needs to move quickly to safely close down Ash Island and many other ash dumps that are ticking time bombs.”

In addition to the discovery that TVA used ash in dike construction, the groups’ investigation further concluded that TVA’s Johnsonville pond closure plan does not fully address this construction problem in order to prevent future disasters.

While the groups have submitted a letter to TDEC requesting that TDEC address these risks, there is no formal process for public input into the TVA pond closure plans, meaning there is no guarantee that TDEC or TVA will consider and respond to public concerns. Allowing TVA and TDEC to privately negotiate plans for dozens of wet ash ponds will not sufficiently safeguard the public interest in safe closure.

“It is too bad there is no public process established to vet the pond closure plans in light of the Kingston disaster,” said Renée Victoria Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network. “We hope that TDEC will do the right thing and open these plans for public scrutiny. As our letter points out, TDEC must address these ponds as both a water and solid waste issue to ensure that surface and groundwater are protected from pollution that will more than likely come from these ponds once they are closed.”

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Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. www.cleanenergy.org

Gov. Bill Haslam has said little about the particulars of what he expects to write into next year’s state budget plan. But he hinted Monday that he’s agreeable to permanently stashing away $21 million for Tennessee crop and livestock producer subsidies.

The Agriculture Enhancement Grants are government financial supports for an industry Haslam says funnels $78 billion a year back into the state economy and employs about 350,000 people.

“That’s a staggering factor and it’s something that we think about when we come up with our economic plans and our strategies for the future,” Haslam said in his keynote speech at the Tennessee Farm Bureau’s 90th annual statewide conference in Franklin Monday.

The grants are now paid for with one-time dollars, meaning those funds are the most likely to be cut or eliminated year to year.

Haslam is poised to cut as much as $400 million in next year’s spending plan and asked state agencies to show him how they’d cut 5 percent from their budget. The governor says he’s “hopeful” he’ll be able to avoid cutting each department by that much.

Last month, agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson outlined for the governor the agency’s proposed $87.5 million spending proposal for the coming fiscal year during a budget hearing which included options to offset about $1.9 million in spending through “reduced operating expenses” and “delayed equipment purchases.”

Haslam told reporters after his speech Monday the grants are key to the state’s agricultural environment and said he wants “to make certain that recurs because that $21 million is really important.”

He said it’s critical, in part, because “the vast majority of our business comes from existing companies and farms like yours in Tennessee and we want to recognize and reward and pay attention to that,” Haslam told the bureau.

“You make investment decisions every year and that’s why I love the reality and the truth-based business that you’re in. When people invest their own capitol, they understand what’s required.”

Gov. Bill Haslam is scheduled to drop in on the 90th annual statewide conference of the Tennessee Farm Bureau today in Cool Springs.

The governor’s thinking on the state Department of Agriculture‘s budget and policy priorities will likely be on the minds of many in attendance.

Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson and others in his department outlined the agency’s proposed $87.5 million spending proposal for the coming fiscal year during a hearing before the governor on Nov. 22.

In keeping with Haslam’s call for agencies to offer up at least 5 percent in proposed cuts to their spending, Johnson said the Department of Agriculture is prepared to offset about $1.9 million in spending through “reduced operating expenses” and “delayed equipment purchases.” Of the total department budget, about $38.2 million is discretionary, Johnson said.

Johnson also said the department plans to bump up revenues for the agency by approving more intensive timber-harvesting on state-owned forests. “Our plan is in keeping with the sound environmental standards for maintaining the health of our state-owned forests,” Johnson said.

Of that total state ag department’s proposed budget, about $11.11 million is federal money, a reduction of $7.3 million from the current year, said Johnson.

The Haslam administration has in the past been supportive of the state’s farm subsidy program, funded this year to the tune of $21 million. The governor has said he understands “how important it is.”

According to the department, “The Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program is a cost share initiative administered by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to help farmers make long-term, strategic investments to increase profitability.”

Under the program, farmers can qualify for the state to pay them for up to 50 percent of the costs of certain crop and livestock production.

“For every dollar the state invests, studies show a return of nearly four dollars in additional economic activity in the community,” Johnson said.

“The idea behind the ag enhancement program was to reinvest some of the tobacco revenues the state receives back into our rural communities, which have suffered from a major decline in tobacco production over the past decade,” Johnson said. “Back in 1999, when the state started receiving its share of the Master Settlement Agreement, farm income from tobacco was nearly $240 million. Last year farm receipts from tobacco were $97 million — a tremendous loss of economic activity in our rural communities that has been compounded over a 12-year period.”

State environmental regulators say they’re willing to chop $4.4 million worth of green from their budget next year but warned the governor that some of those cuts come with strings attached.

More than half the department’s $349 million budget comes from the federal government, often in the form of federal matching funds that would shrink or disappear if state spending were cut, according to Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Robert Martineau.

“We don’t want to leave that federal money on the table,” Martineau told Gov. Bill Haslam at a Capitol Hill budget hearing Nov. 15.

The department is requesting a $166 million state budget, although $85.8 million comes from dedicated state funding such as fees and revenues. TDEC oversees 53 state parks, which welcome 30 million visitors annually, but is also a major enforcer and administrator for state and federal government regulations like those that address clean air and water.

Cuts that would reduce the department’s budget by 5 percent, as requested by Haslam, include reducing funding to maintain and fix parks and equipment, and leasing out or closing parks with outdated facilities and limited visitors. But moves to close those state parks would result in more than $1 million in lost revenue, and eliminating 23 jobs in the Bureau of Environment would mean losing more than a half-million dollars in federal funds and fees, Martineau said.

Haslam is expected to cut as much as $400 million from this year’s estimated $30 billion budget to make up for increased costs in state government that are outpacing growth in state revenues.

“As we’ve told other folks, it’s our firm hope obviously we don’t have to ask everybody to do the full 5 percent,” Haslam told Martineau at the hearing.

Separately from the cuts, TDEC is asking Haslam for a $6.8 million permanent increase in dedicated funds instead of one-time money to help local governments and the state acquire park space and another $1.4 million next year to leverage federal money for a clean water program.

The department isn’t without its critics. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey has called the agency “out of control” and launched a website in his push to roll back regulations he believes trip up businesses, including those at TDEC.

Haslam made a point over the summer to suggest that state agencies re-evaluate some of their regulations in a way that takes pressure off businesses, but none of those issues arose in TDEC’s budget hearing.

The department has managed to speed up some of its permitting processes, Finance and Administration Commissioner Mark Emkes said, and suggested other agencies mirror those efforts.

“Without spending hardly any money you’re becoming more effective and efficient, and we need to follow your example, all of us,” he told Martineau at the hearing.

Organizers for Saturday afternoon’s “We Stand With Gibson” rally/concert in Nashville say the event is geared more toward people seeking a good time than looking for a political rant fest.

Clearly, though, with a line-up that, in addition to musical performers, includes conservative radio hosts Steve Gill and Phil Valentine, and Memphis Tea Party founder Mark Skoda — as well as U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Gibson Guitar’s CEO himself, Henry Juszkiewicz — there’ll no doubt be plenty of fire-breathing to accompany the cool harmonies.

The purpose of the event is, after all, to raise awareness and fuel outrage about an incident that one function organizer says has galvanized anti-government sentiment like no other in quite a while.

“I don’t think any other issue has captured the passions of tea partiers like this one has in the last year,” said Ben Cunningham, a blogger and spokesman for Tennessee Tax Revolt.

“There is near universal agreement among the tea party and conservative groups that the raids — the one that occurred in August and the one that occurred two years ago — were an overreach by the federal government. It was an abuse of power and authority,” said Cunningham.

The purpose of the “We Stand With Gibson” event is to say to the federal government, “Back off,” Cunningham said during a press conference Wednesday.

The gathering, which is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. at the Scoreboard Restaurant & Sports Bar, was also planned with the idea in mind of people coming together in support of others facing difficulty and uncertainty — like they did during the floods of 2010, Ken Marrero, a blogger and rally organizer, added.

The victims in this case, said Marrero, are Juszkiewicz and the employees of Gibson. Their place of work was inundated back in August with federal agents who allege Gibson illegally imported wood from India in violation of a recently amended U.S. law known as the Lacey Act.

The agents seized wood, guitars and other company property, according to the company. No charges have been filed, although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency conducting the investigation, is reportedly considering filing a criminal complaint.

In a sworn statement filed last month, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Special Agent Kevin L. Seiler wrote that after reviewing Juszkiewicz’s public statements in the wake of the raid on Gibson, “it is clear that Gibson understands the purpose of the Lacey Act, and understands that the (seized company property), which is fingerboard blanks, are not finished fingerboards and thus Gibson is aware that its order for fingerboard blanks was an order for contraband ebony wood or ebony wood which is illegal to possess.”

Marrero said he supports the idea of government regulating natural resource extraction and prohibiting Americans from violating the environmental and wildlife protection laws of other countries, which is ostensibly the purpose of the Lacey Act.

But he thinks the federal agents stepped way over the line in the Gibson case, both in the way they are interpreting the law and the way they executed the raid.

Marrero said it is his understanding that Indian law — at least according to the Indian government — has not been violated. India’s deputy director-general of foreign trade reportedly stated in a Sept. 16 letter, “Fingerboard is a finished product and not wood in primary form,” and that the “foreign trade policy of the government of India allows free export of such finished products of wood.”

Marrero wonders why the United States government “is enforcing a law that the Indian government doesn’t even consider is a violation.”

“How is that right?” he said.

Cunningham, too, condemns what he described as the “hideously complex” web of regulations that businesses and taxpayers have to understand, negotiate and abide by to remain in compliance with federal law.

“We have all kinds of these 2,000-page laws that empower bureaucrats to be petty tyrants,” said Cunningham. “Think of the IRS code.”

In any event, said Cunningham, when government officials do perceive that some nonviolent violation of a rule or regulation has occurred, the proper course is to “call (an alleged violator) up on the phone and say, ‘We are concerned about this law and your compliance with the law.’”

“You don’t send armed agents with their guns drawn into their corporate headquarters. That is an abuse of power, and that is our government abusing the power that we grant to them,” said Cunningham. “And that is why we are here — we are holding them accountable for this abuse of power. It’s got to stop. And we the people are coming here on Saturday to say that to our federal government.”

Even with Speaker Pro Tempore Judd Matheny in the saddle of an effort to allow motorcycle riders to opt out of wearing helmets, he says he’s still only got a “50/50″ shot of getting the bill to the floor next year.

And even then, that doesn’t mean it’ll get much more traction.

“I think it’s going to happen eventually. It’s manifest destiny,” said Matheny, a Tullahoma Republican who is trying to rev up support among lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee to allow bikers with at least $15,000 of medical insurance coverage to ditch their helmets if they’re at least 21 years old.

The issue has been cruising around Capitol Hill for almost a decade under different sponsors as advocates for a helmet-free lifestyle argue they should have the freedom to choose whether to wear a lid. They add that loosening up the laws will boost tourism revenues by attracting more bikers to the state.

Meanwhile, opponents say changing the law will lead to more fatalities and boost health care costs.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, passing the legislation would have an indirect increase in costs to public health systems for state and local governments, including an estimate that TennCare costs could increase by $2 million.

“I understand the proponents talk about freedom, nobody’s against freedom,” said Gary Zelizer, director of government affairs for the Tennessee Medical Association. Zelizer argues that the bill would lead to deaths of teenagers riding without a helmet, even though they would not be covered by the exemption. “I hear the tourism issue. But should those be at the expense of our kids?… Is that what you really want to do?”

Some 158,000 motorcycles were registered in Tennessee last year, according to state agencies. About 4,700 bikers are involved in crashes each year, with roughly one in five resulting in head injuries, according to the fiscal note.

When Florida implemented a law similar to Matheny’s proposal, the state saw a more than 80 percent increase in head injuries, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Earlier this year, the bill languished in committee until the Transportation Subcommittee agreed to study the issue over the summer. Members plan to sit down with the Fiscal Review team to examine exactly how it developed its price tag, which Matheny says will help the measure get past a major road block.

Matheny, who rides horses instead of a hog, said he would be equally upset if the state required him to wear a helmet on horseback, and suggested bikers should have the choice to sign some sort of liability waiver stating they understand the risks of biking sans helmet.

“Giving personal responsibility back to people, and letting them be responsible for their own actions if they know the inherent risk, is not something that is alien to this General Assembly,” Matheny said.

Press Release from the Senate Democratic Caucus, Sept. 24, 2011:

Officials discuss STEM education, agribusiness

PORTLAND – Tennessee House and Senate Democrats finished their weeklong jobs tour Saturday with stops in Putnam, Smith and Sumner Counties to discuss engineering and agricultural careers.

“The number one goal of this tour was to refocus our statewide conversation on jobs, and I think we succeeded tremendously,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner. “Everywhere the tour went, people wanted to talk about how they could grow jobs and how state government can play a role in helping them.”

Tour members met Saturday morning with Tennessee Tech University President Bob Bell and other administration and faculty officials at their STEM Center to discuss how to get children interested early in science and math.

Officials also visited the school’s state-of-the-art nursing facilities and learned about a new Regional Economic Development Institute at TTU designed to partner with rural counties to grow industry and attract jobs.

The tour then traveled to Catesa Farms in Smith County, where farmer George McDonald showed state and local officials the power of technology in agribusiness. McDonald showed members how practicing “precision agriculture” through tools like GPS and sonar has helped him increase yields for crops like soybeans, corn and strawberries.

“The technology found on this farm would rival that of any high-tech business,” said State Senator Tim Barnes. “It’s a long way from the farm I grew up on, but it’s also a powerful sign of how technology can help feed Tennessee families and benefit our local farmers.”

Tour members ended the day in Portland at the city’s industrial park, where they met officials with solar components manufacturer Shoals Technologies Group.

House and Senate Democrats will begin organizing the ideas and notes they have compiled from the past week in order to follow up with state departments and government officials, as well as to study potential legislation for the upcoming session.

Press Release from the Senate Democratic Caucus, Sept. 24, 2011:

Stop covers wide range of businesses; tour to finish Saturday

KNOXVILLE – Tennessee House and Senate Democrats spent all of Friday in Knoxville speaking to business owners throughout the city as their statewide jobs tour explored emerging career fields.

“All of the companies we visited would either not exist or not be nearly as successful without the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner. “Their workforces and their partnerships with local businesses make up the economic hub of this area.”

Tour members started the day at Wright’s Cafeteria, as owner David Wright and Councilmember Brenda Palmer outlined issues facing Knoxville neighborhoods and small businesses. The group then met with industry leaders at the Knoxville Chamber to discuss bureaucratic hurdles to starting and expanding local businesses.

“Tennessee ranks at the bottom of the country for entrepreneurship, in part because new business owners often get overwhelmed by the bureaucracy facing entrepreneurs in our state,” said State Senator Andy Berke. “State government needs to be fostering entrepreneurship through a streamlined startup process.”

Tour members then visited with Elizabeth Eason of Eason Architecture and Cortney Piper of Piper Communications to discuss the growth of sustainability careers and the widespread application of sustainable building practices.

In the afternoon, members met with Mike Twine of G2 Engineering, a minority-owned business that works with ORNL and other federal agencies to produce a wide range of products and services, including mobile disaster-relief offices that are scheduled to go into production for the U.S. government.

Officials then concluded the day at Quality Label and Tag, a small business with about 15 employees that prints product labels for companies across the country.

The weeklong jobs tour concludes today in Putnam, Smith and Sumner counties.

Democratic legislators launched a statewide “jobs tour” in Memphis on Monday, and they heard a lot of the same topics of concern from businesses that Republicans are hearing — like regulations and job training.

And for good measure, there was a firm opinion voiced about Amazon.com.

House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley and Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis led a discussion that included representatives from a variety of businesses at a Holiday Inn adjacent to the University of Memphis. The group talked while eating breakfast, and there was a hefty helping of complaints about federal regulations, more so than about state regulations.

While Democrats are conducting their own tour, they said they want the effort to create more jobs in the state to be bipartisan. The business leaders, in a gathering of about 20 people, repeatedly asked for state lawmakers to be liaisons to their federal colleagues about the regulatory environment, specifically citing the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

While Republicans do not have a jobs tour, per se, Gov. Bill Haslam has been holding a series of business roundtables across the state, and regulations frequently arise as a key point of concern. Haslam has said he supports the Democrats in their tour across the state.

Early in Monday’s discussion, Ray Pohlman, vice president for government and community relations for AutoZone, said, “I might as well get this off my chest. The Amazon thing is an absolute debacle.

“It started, I know, with the Bredesen administration, and it’s continuing in the Haslam administration. To allow them to get away with not collecting sales tax is just criminal.”

Pohlman acknowledged the dilemma facing Tennessee lawmakers in dealing with the issue of Internet sales, where taxes go uncollected while brick-and-mortar stores collect the tax. While calls are common for settling the issue at the congressional level, the AutoZone executive played political scientist on the issue.

“It’s a tough political position,” Pohlman said. “If you start requiring them to collect taxes, people look at you and say, ‘Uh-oh, you invented a new tax.’ In reality, we know the consumer owes that tax.

“It ain’t going to happen on a national perspective. Your colleagues in Congress have no skin in this game. They’re not going to derive any revenue from this.”

But most of the give-and-take between lawmakers and businesspeople dealt with regulations.

A couple of businessmen, while saying Tennessee is nothing like California as far as environmental regulations go, did express complaints about environmental roadblocks.

“We are having more and more problems with the U.S. EPA,” said Jeff Fedorchak, vice president of corporate governmental affairs for ServiceMaster, a home services company. “To the extent you all can help be a conduit and a voice for business to your federal colleagues, that would be extremely helpful to us, and I’m sure to many other businesses across the state.

“It doesn’t seem as if EPA cares much about jobs. They seem to have an agenda, bordering on a religion, that they’re going to go about no matter what. There doesn’t seem to be a jobs emphasis or acknowledgement on their part that they could pursue something that could impact jobs.”

Steve Bares, president and executive director of Memphis Bioworks Foundation, said regulatory issues discourage farmers from trying crops that are critical for bioscience industries.

There were also complaints that Memphis, well known to be on the New Madrid Fault, is held to some earthquake codes that are the same as those in San Francisco, which some felt to be unfair.

Kyle told the group that the Shelby County delegation has regular lunches in Nashville when in session and that people in business in Memphis were welcome to attend to voice their opinions on issues.

Democratic lawmakers from Memphis in the room Monday included Rep. Larry Miller, Rep. Barbara Cooper, Rep. G.A. Hardaway, Rep. Antonio Parkinson, Sen. Beverly Marrero and Kyle.

Desi Franklin, executive director of the Workforce Investment Network, part of the Memphis Area Career Center, expressed concern that jobs are requiring a higher level of skill sets than a lot of residents have.

“I’ve been approached by several employers in the medical device areas, as well as other advanced manufacturers, who cannot find workers who have skills they need,” she said. “There really is a need to close the skills gap.

Marrero said she has a grandson with a degree in business finance who is working in a pizza restaurant.

“Kids are scared to death coming out of college these days,” Marrero said.

Fitzhugh said he felt the meeting overall was “very positive.”

“Leaders of local business and industry in Shelby County are attuned to problems and opportunities. They’ve got some good ideas,” Fitzhugh said. “Tennessee is a business-friendly state, and we need to keep it that way.

“It was an open, frank discussion. It was a great start to see where we are with jobs and try to get ideas about retaining, growing and attracting new ones.”

The “jobs tour” was scheduled to visit the Haywood County megasite and Solar Farm later Monday. The tour continues Tuesday in Madison and Weakley counties and moves east as the week goes on.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam put a personal stamp of approval Friday on legislative Democrats’ plans to launch a jobs tour across the state, although Republicans and Democrats have held divergent views on how to approach job creation.

“I think it’s great. I think it’s where we all need to be focused,” the GOP governor said of the tour that begins with a business roundtable in Memphis on Monday. “So I certainly don’t have a problem with them doing that.

“Obviously, an important thing is I hope they’re talking to folks who are making capital investments, because at the end of the day that’s who creates jobs. We can talk about all the programs we want, but at the end of the day we need individuals and companies who are willing to put their capital at risk to grow.”

Democrats from the House and Senate have outlined a six-day tour that moves primarily west-to-east across the state. The kickoff is a corporate jobs roundtable at the University of Memphis on Monday, followed that afternoon with visits to the West Tennessee megasite in Haywood County and the nearby West Tennessee Solar Farm.

The Democrats will be in Madison and Weakley counties on Tuesday, Rutherford and Maury counties Wednesday, Warren and Hamilton counties Thursday, Knox County on Friday and Putnam and Smith counties Saturday. Planned events range from a tour of a Nissan plant in Rutherford County to “drop-ins” on small businesses in various counties across the state.

Haslam, who recently returned from a job recruitment trip to California, said he’s all for the Democrats’ effort.

“I’m glad they’re doing that,” he said. “Like I say, I just encourage them to talk to people who are putting their own capital at risk.”

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris has ridiculed the Democrats for an “Obama Apology Tour.”

Haslam has held a series of business roundtables accompanying his staff from the Department of Economic and Community Development. The governor was asked Friday his feeling about the overall job expansion effort, and he said several factors are holding back job growth.

“To be realistic, we have a very flat economy. There are a lot of reasons for that, lack of confidence in Washington one,” he said. “I do think automation is a factor. You look at companies as they automate, companies have figured out ways to do things with fewer people. Go to any plant or distribution center, and you’ll see that.”

He also pointed to the housing market.

“You have a housing market with no growth, and you go back seven or eight years, the percentage of the employment that was tied to the housing market is a significant number,” he said. “So you take away housing, take a national economy where people don’t have a lot of confidence in Washington, and you look at the changing market due to automation, all of those are a big factor.

“The net point to all of that is it’s harder right now.”

Haslam was asked about his California trip, which included visits to the Bay Area of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“We talked with companies that have current presence in Tennessee and to some companies that are looking at that — everything from large multi-billion-dollar corporations that have divisions here to smaller companies that are looking at growing,” Haslam said.

He said the California visit included talks with representatives of the film and entertainment industries. But he doesn’t sound starstruck, indicating he will hold the line on incentives for those businesses.

“Just to be frank, there’s a lot of talk that in Tennessee the incentives have not been that competitive, and that’s probably right,” Haslam said. “The reality there is you have some states that I think have been overly generous when it comes to film and entertainment incentives.

“While we want to attract business, we want to do it at a price that makes sense for taxpayers of the state. Sometimes you have to say, ‘We’d love you to come. Here’s what makes sense for our taxpayers and here’s what doesn’t.’”

Haslam was asked his opinion of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan.

“While I think there are some interesting elements to it, again it becomes a question of: How you pay for it?” Haslam said. “If it was about just spending federal dollars for creating jobs, I think the first stimulus plan would have done that, and I don’t think it produced those kinds of results.”

Obama has proposed increasing taxes on upper-level income households, which Republicans in Congress oppose. The president includes projects in his plan like improving infrastructure.

Democrats and Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly have had a running disagreement on job creation this year. Haslam and Republican legislators have said jobs can’t be legislated and that their role is merely to create an environment conducive to job growth, such as keeping taxes low, reducing regulations on businesses, enacting tort reform and taking steps they believe will boost education, thus enhance the quality of the workforce.

Democrats have repeatedly expressed frustration that the Republicans had a short list of legislation related to jobs. Democrats presented a list of jobs bills during the legislative session this year that they said didn’t get a fair shake from the Republican majority. They included bills that largely would create tax credits for employers, such as one based on the unemployment rate in a county at the time a business would hire.

Democrats also found their own targets for ridicule this year, such as zeroing in on the motor coaches the Haslam administration unveiled, with Senate Majority Leader Lowe Finney calling them “RVs.”

“He’s bought three RVs using more than half a million dollars in federal stimulus money to teach people how to create a resume,” Finney said in April. “The problem is once they create the resume, they don’t have anywhere to send it.”

House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley appointed a nine-member task force in July of representatives from both urban and rural areas to focus on jobs.

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Thursday the state’s unemployment rate for August was 9.7 percent, a slight improvement from 9.8 percent from July. The national unemployment rate for August was 9.1 percent, same as the national rate in July.