By: RmuseApr. 8th, 2013
It is hardly deniable that the Earth’s climate is warming at an
alarming rate, and it has prompted most countries in the developed world
to look to renewable energy as a means of staunching greenhouse gas
emissions as well as reducing their dependency on fossil fuels. Even
America, the backward nation addicted to and lusting for more fossil
fuel use, has crept ever so slowly to catch up to the rest of the
world’s use of renewable energy with a burgeoning movement toward wind
and solar power that creates jobs, saves consumers’ money, and reduces
pollutants. In 2007, North Carolina was the
first
state in the Southeastern U.S. to adopt renewable energy standards to
encourage electrical utility providers to expand their use of renewable
sources of energy, and last week, they became the first state to repeal
their renewable energy standards at the direction of the Koch brothers
and their legislative arm, the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC).
North Carolina utilities were on pace to supply 12.5% of the state’s
electricity needs with renewable energy that has created thousands of
jobs, generated billions in revenue, and reduced pollution all while
saving ratepayers money. However, led by the Kochs, Grover Norquist, the
Heartland Institute, and ALEC, Republicans voted to repeal the state’s
renewable energy standards (RES) using an
ALEC template
that is gaining traction in several states under Koch brothers and
Grover Norquist’s control Norquist and the Kochs have been heavily
funding and pushing ALEC’s “template legislation” to put an end to
renewable energy to hasten climate change’s effect, kill jobs, and
restrict states from reaping the revenue generated by renewable energy.
The ALEC bill,
HB298, dubbed the “
Affordable and Reliable Energy Act” was introduced by ALEC member
Rep. Mike Hager
and repeals the renewable energy standard that barely made it out of
committee when two sane Republicans voted against it. One Republican
from Charlotte, Ruth Samuelson, said the RES had
helped develop
a renewable alternative energy industry that benefitted rural
communities and created 1,100 clean energy companies that contributed
$3.7 billion in annual revenue, created over 21,000
jobs, and lowered residential energy
bills by $173 million. In fact, North Carolina’s RES lifted the state to fifth place in the nation for
solar power development and was closing in on fourth place this year leading the CEO of FLS energy to
claim “
It’s an extraordinary success story that there’s an industry that hardly existed several years ago,” but the Koch brothers mean to destroy the industry with a “filled-in” template courtesy of ALEC.
The Koch brothers, their cohort ALEC, and the conservative belief
tank the Heartland Institute lobbied heavily to dismantle the RES
through hundreds-of-thousands of dollars
in donations and assistance
from
Art Pope’s John Locke Foundation. Pope is a conservative donor and
former national director of the Koch brothers’ other belief tank,
Americans for Prosperity, and his John Locke Foundation assisted pushing
ALEC’s legislation with a
phony report that the RES increased energy costs to consumers and killed thousands of jobs.
Grover Norquist joined forces with the Kochs and wrote an op-ed
attacking renewable energy and, of course, cited the Locke Foundation
phony report as why it was crucial to kill renewable energy standards.
Norquist
attempted
to convince Kansas legislators to repeal their RES or at least weaken
them with ALEC’s model legislation, but the Republican-led House and
Senate
rejected the bills after thousands of residents signed petitions and the Kansas Farm Bureau wrote an
op-ed
supporting the state standards. The opinion piece noted that Kansas was
one of the nation’s leaders in renewable energy, and boasted the state
was second in the nation for wind-energy potential that means more jobs,
increased disposable income for consumers and businesses, as well as
increasing development in Kansas. He also encouraged legislators to
strengthen the RES because it helped the “
prosperity of Kansas’ farm
and ranch families, provides jobs, attracts new businesses, and invests
in infrastructure for the state.”
The president and CEO of the American Council or Renewable Energy
responded to Norquist’s lies and asked a prescient rhetorical question; “
So
as a nationwide initiative funded by opponents of renewable energy
targets state Renewable Portfolio Standards, Americans should be asking
themselves, with all the benefits that came with doubling our renewable
energy capacity from 43.5 gigawatts to 85.7GW from 2008 to 2012, “Do we
want more renewable energy or less?” The thousands who signed
petitions to the legislature obviously answered that yes, they wanted
more renewable energy, cleaner air, more jobs, and business investments
to fund infrastructure improvement. Sadly, North Carolina Republicans
did not want the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy
and voted to repeal the RES and kill jobs, increase energy costs, and
add pollutants to the environment.
It is apparent why the Koch brothers invested in ALEC’s model
legislation because denying global climate change is one of their major
goals, and of course they reap the benefits of selling more oil to
generate electricity. In fact, if the Kochs ever devised a way to charge
Americans for accessing the Sun and wind, this nation would be awash in
renewable energy. ALEC is at Koch’s beck and call to grind out
templates for Republicans to fill in to kill renewable energy standards
in 28 states, as well as keep the money flowing into their coffers from
the Kochs. Grover Norquist joined the campaign because starving state
governments of revenue takes him one step closer to achieving his goal
of “
drowning government in a bathtub,” and he succeeded in North
Carolina that stands to lose $3.7 billion in annual revenue as well as
revenue from residents working in the renewable energy industry. The
fact that Norquist assisted Republicans in killing thousands of jobs and
increase the burden on energy consumers with higher electricity costs
is a value-added benefit and reinforces his disregard for Americans over
the past three decades.
Despite America being a leader in technological development, the
nation is lagging behind nearly every developed country in the world in
harnessing renewable energy, including one the biggest polluters on the
planet, China. President Obama has attempted to increase funding in the
form of tax credits and loans to expand this nation’s renewable energy,
but Republicans have been there every step of the way blocking his
efforts. America has an expansive land area to take advantage of the Sun
and wind to generate electricity, but the Koch brothers will not allow
any further development in the industry. Worse, with ALEC supplying
Republicans Koch legislation to end renewable energy standards,
Americans will lose jobs, clean air, inexpensive electricity, and
increased business investments, and if there is one thing Republicans
love more than oil industry campaign donations, it is imposing more
hardship on the American people.
No comments:
Post a Comment