It's hard to rig the rules against
increasingly competitive green energy options.
Unlike
some other denizens of the fossil-fueled set, this gang isn’t beating oil wells
into solar panels, retiring nuclear reactors, or embracing wind and geothermal
power. Instead, these guys are trying to coax lawmakers into rigging the
rules against increasingly competitive new energy alternatives.
You
see, the bulwarks of conventional energy are good at math. And the math is
increasingly not in their favor.
Solar
panels are growing so affordable, accessible, and popular that sun-powered
energy accounted for 74
percent of the nation’s
new electric generation capacity in the first three months of this year.
Coal
didn’t even register.
OK,
so that first-quarter surge was kind of an anomaly because it included the
inauguration of the Ivanpah Solar
Electric Generating System, the world’s largest solar-concentrating
power plant.
Through a vast array of seven-by-ten-foot mirrors located on
federal land along the California-Nevada border, this remarkable site produces
enough energy to power 140,000 homes. Another vast utility-scale project aptly
called “Genesis
Solar” ramped up too.
But
the U.S. solar industry did install a record
amount of new capacity in 2013. And once enough folks produce their own power on their
rooftops and utility-scale clean energy becomes commonplace, demand for the
juice generated by the dangerous and dirty oil, coal, gas, and
nuclear industries will fizzle.
Can
you imagine the economy weaning itself off of fossil fuels by
the middle of this century?
That’s what Denmark
has officially pledged to do.
Besides,
we all need to visualize this possibility. Unless most of
humanity transitions to a new way of life powered by climate solutions,
global warming could ultimately render the Earth uninhabitable.
Can
you guess who is trying to manipulate legislation to squeeze a few more years
out of the dirty-energy status quo instead of helping make a requisite green
transition happen?
The
American Legislative Exchange Council — a secretive national network known as
ALEC — is stalking state capitols for just this purpose. ALEC’s lobbyists push
a broad conservative agenda in statehouses through templated bills they tweak
for state lawmakers.
What
are these bills calling for? In
states like Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma, there are efforts to
essentially tax homeowners who lease solar panels. But mostly ALEC is aiming
for something bigger: gutting individual state “renewable portfolio standards.”
Those
wonky-sounding regulations require utilities to provide a certain percentage of
power from renewable sources at some set point in the future.
Alternative-energy
leader California, for example, has committed to drawing a third of its juice
from climate-friendly
sources by 2020.
And
who’s paying for this dirty work?
Edison
Electric Institute (EEI), the trade
association for the 70 percent of the U.S. utility industry controlled by
private companies, is behind it — according to the Center for Media and
Democracy. It’s joined in this legislative attack by coal giant Peabody Energy,
ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Koch Industries and other big fossil-fueled interests.
It
may be hard to believe, but so far, foes of systematically encouraging renewable
energy growth are losing. Badly. Even in
Kansas. That state’s
GOP-controlled legislature refused to repeal its renewable energy standard a
few months ago in a 63-60 vote.
All
13 state-targeted efforts to chip away at or kill renewable energy
standards have
failedso far this year. Not
one state rolled back its standards in
2013 either.
Who
could have guessed that renewable energy would be so hard to foil? Well, anyone
who pays attention to all the jobs it generates.
The
solar industry now employs at least 142,000 people in the United States. Solar workers outnumber
coal miners in this country.
In Texas, solar
supports more jobs than ranching and California has more solar workers than actors. Wind
jobs are growing fast too. They hit a total of 80,000 last year.
Sorry,
ALEC. Even the reddest states can’t ignore this rising tide of green jobs.
Emily
Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute
for Policy Studies. OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a former
state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut. OtherWords.org
