Last week, the senate fell one vote short of passing an energy bill with moderate support for renewable energy. The main reason for this was simple. Funds dedicated to tax incentives for renewable energy were to be paid for by the repeal of incentives for oil companies and utilities (industry spun this as "raising taxes"). Democrats' "Pay as you go" policy required that funding for renewables would have to be paid for by cuts elsewhere, which is why the repeal of incentives for fossil fuel industries, which are enjoying record profits, was proposed. But why be surprised? Oil companies and utilities spend tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions.
The bill did contain some positives, e.g., a 35 mpg fuel economy standard by 2020, but compared to what technology is capable of, that is only a very modest gain. Europe, and even China have more stringent fuel economy standards. If the American auto industry can't do better than that, then there simply may be no American auto industry by 2020.
Utilities, e.g., Southern Company, argued that the renewable energy portfolio standard of 15% by 2020 (utilities would be required to obtain 15% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020) would raise prices on customers (as if prices aren't going to rise anyway - especially with spikes in natural gas and transportation). The arguement, specifically for Southern Company, was that renewable energy potential is not equally distributed geographically, such that the southeast U.S. is not as advantaged as solar rich areas like the southwest, or wind rich areas like the great plains. But that arguement is specious. Even Canada is installing solar systems, and sunny Germany plans to obtain 30% of its electrical energy from solar by 2020.
The breakdown in the energy bill was: Nuclear $25 Billion, $10 Billion for coal to liquids, $10 Billion for renewables, $2 Billion for uranium enrichment (isn't this what Bush says Iran shouldn't be doing?), $2 Billion for coal to gas - this amounts to $39 Billion for entrenched energy industries and $10 Billion for renewables. These amounts still have to be appropriated in congress, and Scott Sklar at Renewable Energy Access states that if appropriations are consistent with past history, the $39 Billion for entrenched interests will be fully allocated, while the $10 Billion for renewables will not. And, of course, these figures do not include the hundreds of billions being spent in Iraq "to protect our vital national interests in the region."
An overwhelming majority of Americans favor the deployment of renewable energy. 40 republican senators seemed not to understand that last week. And as long as entrenched interests win, you lose.
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"Nothing is as strong as an idea whose time has come."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071218-2.html
Anyway, this article now features at Change the World!
Does the passage of the stripped-down Energy Bill mean that momentum is lost for renewables?
"...momentum for an RES and a full-value, long-term PTC continues to build, even as politics put a speed bump in their path for the near-term. Almost the moment the Senate voted to remove the tax title containing the PTC, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made clear that he and the Senate would return to the issue in 2008.
"If President Bush thinks we'll stop fighting to end Big Oil giveaways-so that we can invest more in clean-energy innovation-he is mistaken," said Reid. "And if Senate Republicans think this is the last they'll hear of the renewable electricity standard, they are mistaken, too. Republicans may have blocked these priorities for now, but the drumbeat for change is far too loud and far too strong for them to keep blocking much longer."
That drumbeat to which Reid was referring is the voice of the public. Survey after survey shows that Americans support the enactment of policy that will provide them with clean, renewable energy."
It takes some rocking to dislodge them...
Bush et al.'s terms cannot end soon enough but they will end...
Very tired of the Republicans... Indeed...
David: "It takes some rocking to dislodge them..."
Getting 60 votes in the senate is going to take some rocking indeed, even as unpopular as republicans are these days.
ROFLMAO!! Yes - Merry Christmas to you too, Kay.
"I am curious as to what the excuses will be for doing nothing if the dems get 60 votes."
It's a situation I'd like to see them deal with. This energy bill didn't break the filibuster by only 1 vote. The pressure is building, like magma in a volcano. Never before has an energy bill, with these incentives for renewables (meager as they were), been so close to becoming law. This article acknowledges that the bill's failure was a disappointment, but also states that it represents political progress.