| By Jamie Friedman - Nov 20th, 2007 at 3:14 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Tags: Climate Change, energy, energy bill, Global Warming, partisan politics
Due to political gridlock in Congress over provisions in the Energy Bill, it now seems that Senate and House reps are so scared of not passing a bill that they are again (as they did with ENDA) at risk of passing a less than mediocre piece of legislation.
Reports today on RenewableAccess.com and AWEA explain that some Democrats are considering removing the renewable energy standards (RPS) from the bill due to lack of votes (needed for the inevitable veto that will follow this bill) and stalling from members on both sides who fear voting on an issue that may damage their appeal to partisan voters in presidential campaigns.
Not only is this a sad reminder of the shameless behavior that occurs around branded "partisan issues," but this is depressing because the RPS is an extremely important measure that, if put into effect, would begin changing the national, even global energy economy for the better. The proposed change in RPS will require utilities to generate or purchase 15% of electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2020. Also at risk for removal is the Production Tax Credit (PTC). This is an incentive program proposing an income tax credit of 2.0 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity produced from qualified wind energy facilities and other renewable energy sources.
How far will this go? Why are we allowing politics to take precedence over the true issues being addressed in the bill? How can we overlook the importance of taking large steps to end our dependence on oil, coal, and other dangerous and non-sustainable energy sources? Lead representatives are stripping the bill of its core components over concerns to prove themselves rather than fighting for votes on what they know is right. This bill is in danger of passing without its truly revolutionary provisions and being pieced into just another lip-service bill for energy renewal. This isn’t about passing “something" – this has to be about real change. We don’t have anymore time to waste.
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The problem is that the RPS would require region energy companies to generate a certain precentage of their energy from renewable sources. Sounds good, right? but the problem is that renewable sources, just like any other resource, are not evenly distributed geographically. For example, for Florida almost no wind, geothermal, or hydro power options exist. To meet the RPS standard for a FL-only power operation would require a massive deployment of solar power, and likely result in power bills to consumers doubling.
Compare this to Texas, with massive amounts of wind and geothermal energy, meeting the same RPS targets are quick, easy, and cheap.
Really the only solution is for smaller power companies to be acquired by larger ones with the geographical presence to operate in low cost renewable energy areas to offset other higher cost ones.
Result?
Sky-high power costs for Mainers, residential, commercial and industrial, while a few owners of these newly favored resources got rich. One such person was Angus King who went onto become governor of Maine.
The state repealed the law but Maine industry has never recovered. Young Mainers move away to find work.
The enrgy bill in Congress will be an utter disaster, and the youth of America will be its primary victims. Energy will be scarce and costly. Forget about continuing anything close to the energy-rich lifestyle to which we are accustomed.
The poor will suffer most of all.