Congress and the Bush administration have long kept their collective heads buried under a pile of special interests instead of responding to the growing threat of global climate change.
Given that wretched record, the energy conservation bill signed by Bush last week does mark a significant, albeit belated, move toward a more environmentally and economically sustainable American economy. But Congress should not rest on such slender laurels, and The Post hails House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pledge to return to the conservation wars next year — especially by requiring utilities to move toward renewable energy.
Colorado voters pioneered the issue of renewable energy in 2004 by passing Amendment 37, requiring some utilities to generate 10 percent of their power from renewables by 2015. The state’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, initially opposed that mandate but now is enthusiastically pursing renewables. Indeed, last month Xcel met the 10-year standard — eight years early. With Xcel’s support, the legislature this spring doubled the renewable mandate to 20 percent by 2020.
Given Colorado’s success, it would have been reasonable to set a 15 percent renewable energy standard nationwide by 2020. But the Atlanta-based Southern Co. and Ohio-based American Electric Power — both of which rely heavily on carbon dioxide-spewing coal-fired plants — hurled lobbyist cash at Congress to crush the drive. Southern alone spent $7 million to kill the renewable standard.
Southern lobbyists argued that, unlike the West, their region has relatively few good wind power sites. Maybe so, but doesn’t the sun shine once in a while in Georgia? Southern Co. should check with Xcel and other progressive utilities about their advanced new solar proposals and join the 21st century.
Congress also blundered egregiously by failing to cancel $13 billion in special tax credits for oil and gas production and convert them to incentives for renewable energy. Frankly, if a crude oil price of $90 a barrel isn’t incentive enough to explore for new oil, then obviously it’s time to move on to alternative energy sources.
Still, the new energy efficiency law does do some useful things, notably by requiring that America’s vehicles achieve an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, about 10 mpg better than the mileage the nation’s cars and trucks average now.
The legislation also would set new energy efficiency standards for buildings, lighting and appliances, including dishwashers and washing machines. A vital section will spur the production of cellulosic ethanol — a key to breaking the nation’s addiction to petroleum.
After seven years of dithering, that amounts to a good beginning. But it’s only a beginning — and the high-priced lobbyists who dodged energy efficiency standards this year should be on notice that the American people will be back demanding better of Congress next year.
