At the recent Apollo Summit in Washington, D.C., Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter challenged Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to an arm wrestling match over the creation of new environmental jobs in their respective states. Ritter reportedly took exception to comments by Deval during his presentation and made it clear there is competition in seeking such manufacturers.

“Gov. Patrick talks about bringing jobs to Massachusetts. We’re going to arm wrestle you for those jobs because we want those same manufacturing plants,” said Gov. Ritter. “We want to be the vertical part of the industry. It’s a good thing to have two governors competing for those jobs, competing in this industry to build out the turbines, competing to have the wind farms located in their state. That’s the right way for us to think about it.”

The challenge followed a speech by Patrick that outlined his goal to attract companies to Massachusetts to build a green economy. “I don’t just want wind farms. I want companies that build turbines. I want hybrid vehicle companies to consult us on conservation strategies,” said Patrick. “I want companies that design solar panels. The whole integrated industry can have a place in Massachusetts and in the U.S. If we get this right, the whole world will be our customer.”