Vernon: MA small businesses need affordable and reliable energy.
An Update from Your NFIB/Massachusetts State Director
Small Business Week has seemingly universal
appeal. State legislators visit small businesses in their districts and snap
photos and urge support for Main Street.
But small business owners know that running a
small business, while often rewarding, can be a difficult struggle that can
last long hours every day all year long. Unfortunately, too often the struggle
is made more difficult by requirements and mandates imposed by the business’
other ‘partner’ – the local, state and federal governments.
We call on government officials to use Small
Business Week and Small Business Month to reflect on the impact of public
policy on the ability of small businesses to grow and expand and create more
jobs and more profitability.
With other statewide business groups and local
chambers of commerce, NFIB will be co-sponsoring events at the end of the month
in Northampton, Fitchburg and Fall River that call attention to public policies
that affect small business costs. We will concentrate on the costs of offering
healthcare to workers, the costs of labor and of creating jobs, and the cost
of energy impacting the business climate in Massachusetts. And we will look at
solutions to address the issues.
When it comes to energy, MA small businesses
need affordable and reliable energy. We can no longer afford to pay double what
our competitors a couple hundred miles to the south are paying. This means we
need access to renewables like hydro, solar and wind, as well as affordable
natural gas. To compete, MA small businesses, and MA residents, need all
sources of energy.
To solve the energy issue may require
politically difficult decisions by our leaders. They need to know that small
business owners know the score when it comes to energy and will support
decisions to guarantee access to low cost and cleaner natural gas as well as
greener sources.
