-Cross-posted at WeArePowershift.org

-Written by Dakota Thomas, a senior at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, in Wise County, Virginia

Link: http://www.highlandcavalier.com/2012/04/20/letter-to-the-editor-coal-an-unstable-foundation-for-swva-s-economy/

 

One can’t make it ten feet down the street of Wise without seeing a “Friends of Coal” sticker on a bumper or a sign espousing that “We keep the lights on.” And while coal is the driving force behind our economy today, people of the area’s minds are captivated by it as though the coal industry can do no wrong. But the coal industry is above all else a business. They make a profit by developing new, cheaper (read: less human dependent and more robotic) technology, or by securing legislative outcomes that favor them rather than good policy.

 

Yes, there are those who still curiously regard fossil fuels as the only realistic energy sources for our world. It is a dead-end if there ever was one; an idea largely propagated by the fossil fuel biz and their political front men and women. Thankfully, for those who understand the inescapable necessity of renewable clean energy, the options just keep growing.

Meet the solar tower, a solar-based energy source that is an intriguing mix of solar and wind energy. A company named "Enviromission" has its sights on Arizona to build this massive tower. It's essentially an enormous greenhouse that traps air heated by the sun's rays. Hot air naturally rises, and as the air does so it is funneled through a central point (the tower), the base of which sports an array of fans that are turned by the current just like a windmill.

A detailed description of the tower can be found here including its numerous advantages. For starters, it is low maintenance, continues to work at night, has zero GHG emissions, makes use of essentially useless desert, and the list still goes on. This earlier, smaller version in Spain recently achieved the huge milestone of generating twenty-four hours of uninterrupted supply, proving solar energy can provide power well into the night!

This is just one of many options that are currently available and make the reality of renewable energy all the more imminent. Add some wind energy, solar thermal and solar PV, some geothermal for good measure, and we're well on our way to a cleaner, sustainable future.

Click below to check out this new infographic from our friends at 350.org for a simple answer to this question.

This morning, I was one of about a dozen environmental advocates to attend Dominion Resources Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting in Charlottesville, VA, while about 30 others rallied outside. Between shareholder proposals, comments and questions by shareholders and their proxies and the company's own presentations, reducing the company's impact on the environment was discussed at least as much as its financial performance. And the meeting left me hopeful that environmental advocates can work with Dominion to increase its investment in renewables, especially offshore wind power.

Just this Tuesday, we publicly launched our joint campaign with the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Green Jobs Alliance and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light asking Dominion to work with us to invest in offshore wind power. So today I spoke at the shareholder meeting in support of a proposal for the company to set and pursue a goal of 20% renewable energy generation by 2024. Specifically, I spoke about the fact that while offshore wind power does require a greater investment up front, it carries fewer long-term financial risks than investing in fossil fuel power plants. The risks of building new fossil fuel generation include:

--volatile prices for coal and natural gas that are set by an increasingly global market
--the potential need for pollution control upgrades in order to comply with future environmental laws
--and the risk of accidental releases, like the catastrophic spill of coal-ash that Tennessee Valley Authority had in 2008, which could cost millions in clean up expenses, not to mention the public relations fall-out.

Without question, one of the most rewarding organizing experiences I have ever been a part of was the "Appalachia Rising" mobilization in late September of last year. Appalachia Rising consisted of three very successful days of action in Washington, D.C.: a two-day weekend conference, followed by a Monday morning march of 2,000 people to the White House demanding an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. At the White House 118 people were arrested in front of it.

The next morning there was a huge color picture on the front page of the Washington Post of the nonviolent civil disobedience action, and there was extensive news coverage from other media outlets. This was an action that had an impact, and not just via the mass media.

As the Senate, the House, the White House, the Republicans and the Democrats hash it out over what to do about the expiring tax cuts, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, co-author of the CLEAR Act, is leading an effort to extend an also-expiring program that has played an important role over the last couple of years to build the renewable energy industry.

Unfortunately, in the compromise framework for a deal between the White House and Republicans, this program was not included. It should be, in whatever is finally voted on.

Senator Cantwell's initiative is supported by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin and 25 other Senators. It has to do with the extension of the "Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program." See the link here for more info: http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=328729

This program will expire at the end of this year. If it is not extended, it will be a "hit" on the renewable energy industry. In the words of a statement signed by the 26 U.S. Senators in support of extending this program, "Absent an extension of the TGP, the anticipated total financing available for renewables is expected to decrease by 56 percent in 2011."

I've heard that Harry Reid has indicated support for trying to make this happen.

If you agree that this as an important issue, a possible win during the lame duck session, please reach out to U.S. Senators about this, as soon as you can.

Chap Peterson, Virginia State Senator of the 34th Senate District of Virginia, has been a long-time supporter of clean and renewable energy, so it was no great surprise when he attended Saturday's Northern Virginia Climate Action Network (NOVACAN) meeting. The NOVACAN coalition is made up of a number of environmentally-focused Northern Virginia organizations, including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, with the aim of educating and empowering Northern Virginians to advocate for policies to curtail climate change.

After the meeting, State Senator Peterson reiterated his thoughts on renewable energy on his blog, reposted below.

And the resources to repower Virginia without the construction of new coal plants or drilling off our coasts. Some might think this is crazy talk but the numbers are there to back me up. I attended a Senate briefing on offshore wind potential that blew me a way! (no pun intended... okay maybe a little pun intended)

It is safe to say now that wind both on and offshore is a REAL solution to meet our energy demands. The tides, times and technologies are changing and it's about time we start construction on Virginia's first offshore wind turbine.

Here's why:

1. We have relatively shallow water and few strong hurricanes, which make us a good candidate.
2. We have the highest wind potential in the South.
3. The wind industry CREATES jobs- construction, welding, maritime, ship design and architecture. (slide 8 )
4. Nearly 25% of the investment in wind projects engage the LOCAL community (this number has the potential to grow)
5. We have sites that don't interfere with commerce or the Navy


(Click on the image to view larger size)

Then we can get into the numbers a little bit and do a simple cost comparison between offshore oil drilling and offshore wind.
Offshore wind can create 330,000 MW vs Oil from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) can create 18,000 MW (in 20 years).
Wind has 16 times the potential of offshore oil drilling! As if that's not compelling enough, lets look at it through a lens of reducing oil imports. There is a growing trend that is pushing us towards electric vehicles (EV). One EV draws 400 W (.4kW) of electricity. Mid Atlantic cars draw 29,000 MW (EEEK!). Atlantic OCS oil could run 30% of Mid Atlantic cars for 20 years, while offshore wind would run 100% of those cars.... forever! This analysis comes from Willett Kempton's presentation, which I'm having trouble finding online. he bottom line is there enough wind to matter and we've got it right here in Virginia!

It would appear Bob Dylan got it right. The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

First I want to offer my sincere CONGRATULATIONS to my colleagues and neighbors working in Maryland. Maryland is clearly leading the way and setting the example for what other states can be doing in the absence of federal climate legislation.

I'd like however to focus on Virginia, which by stark contrast is anything but a leader on this issue. As many may be aware, the Virginia General Assembly reconvened for it's one day veto session last week. The only real way to sum up the results of that one day session is with one word... disappointing.

We had a real opportunity to move Virginia towards the a clean energy future that is already available and affordable, it just needed a little legislative help. Some of you may have followed me on twitter last week giving the play by play of what went down and I decided to sit and think on it over the weekend before voicing my complete disappointment in our elected officials.

There are some champions to be highlighted and thanked before I go on:

Senator Donald McEachin- introduced a comprehensive piece of legislation on energy efficiency that would have saved consumers money on the electricity bills in the long run and created 10,000 plus jobs for the commonwealth and contained a strong mandatory target. (SB 1447)

Senator Mark Herring- introduced key components of the above bill (a mandatory 19% Efficiency goal for utilities) (SB 1440)

Delegate Albert Pollard- introduced a bill that would give utilities the same rate of return for investments in efficiency that they currently see for investments in coal. This bill passed and is an important step towards a clean energy economy but it is just the first step.

Senator Chap Petersen- introduced bills with strong targets on efficiency. Senator Petersen was also a vocal champion for moving Virginia forward and embracing a clean energy future.

Governor Tim Kaine- yeah that's right, Governor Kaine endorsed legislation that contained mandatory efficiency targets at the beginning of the session and amended the weakened bills that came out of the session to include a 19% efficiency target.

These are the five BIG thank yous I feel I have to give before moving on to lastweek's veto session.

Unfortunately, none of the legislation was able to make it out of the General Assembly with a mandatory efficiency standard. Utilities, like Dominion were able to make that a scary idea, because according to them it's impossible to control the behavior of rate payers, despite the fact that mandatory efficiency measures have been successful in other states like California and Vermont (note that Vermont is a mostly rural state with mountains). But Governor Kaine stepped in and amended the legislation that passed to include a 19% target. This is far from where we started at the beginning of the session but still would have been a step forward, and would have put us a better place to start next legislative session. In my eyes this was the least we could do this session and claim victory.

Well, we couldn't do that.

We were unable to pass a voluntary efficiency standard! It passed in the Senate with a close vote but I will briefly thank the senators that voted for the amendment. Barker, Colgan, Deeds, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Reynolds, Saslaw, Ticer, Vogel, and Whipple all voted in support of the goal so thank you!

Then we went to the House. Delegate Pollard stood up and endorsed the Governor's amendments to SB 1248 and was immediately countered by Delegate Hogan. Delegate Hogan that made false accusations in regards to the target, the most egregious being that Virginia already has a voluntary efficiency standard of 12% that we are not meeting so why set the bar higher. This is utterly absurd but stood uncontested. Virginia does not have a voluntary energy efficiency standard of any kind! We do however have a voluntary Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 12% but this is COMPLETELY different! I was shocked that no one contested this. He also threatened that efficiency is going to raise rates for consumers period. No mention of the fact that our current course will also raise rates and in fact will raise rates far more than efficiency. Delegate Pollard brought that issue up, but Hogan's damage was done. The votes fluctuated a bit but ultimately the Gov's amendments were defeated by 3 votes. 47-50 with 3 people abstaining. I've heard a lot of discussion that the ultimate demise was the result of a partisan battle in the House that was beyond our control. I find that hard to accept when I examined the vote count. There were Republicans voting for the amendments as well as Democrats voting against. Maybe it was a case of partisan politics I'll list the vote count below and you can decide. The one thing I ask is if your Delegate voted against this simple amendment please give them a call and voice your disappointment that we were enable to push our cheapest fuel source here in Virignia.... Energy Efficiency.

It's great that we got close, but we've certainly got our work cut out for us in Virginia next session.

The House Vote Count:

YEAS--Alexander, Amundson, Armstrong, Athey, BaCote, Barlow, Bouchard, Brink, Bulova, Caputo, Dance, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Englin, Frederick, Hall, Herring, Howell, A.T., Hull, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Marsden, Marshall, R.G., Mathieson, McClellan, McQuinn, Melvin, Miller, P.J., Morrissey, Nichols, Plum, Poisson, Pollard, Rust, Scott, E.T., Scott, J.M., Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Toscano, Tyler, Valentine, Vanderhye, Ward, Ware, O., Watts--47.

NAYS--Abbitt, Albo, Bell, Bowling, Byron, Carrico, Cline, Cole, Cosgrove, Cox, Crockett-Stark, Fralin, Gilbert, Griffith, Hamilton, Hargrove, Hogan, Hugo, Iaquinto, Ingram, Janis, Joannou, Johnson, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, Lohr, Loupassi, Massie, May, Merricks, Miller, J.H., Morgan, Nixon, Nutter, O'Bannon, Oder, Orrock, Peace, Phillips, Pogge, Poindexter, Purkey, Putney, Saxman, Sherwood, Ware, R.L., Wright, Mr. Speaker--50.

ABSTENTIONS--0.

NOT VOTING--Gear, Marshall, D.W., Tata--3.

Check out this awesome speach by Ethan Nuss, CCAN Maryland Campus Organizer, at the Power Shift 09 Rally on the Capitol Lawn.