| June 17, 2009 |  |
Senate Energy Committee’s Energy Package Misses Opportunity to Create Clean Jobs, Save Consumers Money
Science Group Calls on Full Senate to Fix ‘Pitiful’ Renewable Energy Provisions
WASHINGTON (June 17, 2009) – By a 15 to 8 vote, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today passed an energy package including problematic provisions that should be rewritten or removed before a full Senate vote, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Flawed provisions for renewable energy sources, the electric grid, loan guarantees, and nuclear fuel reprocessing would undermine progress toward a clean energy economy, the group said.
Marchant Wentworth, a clean energy advocate at UCS, was especially critical of a provision that purports to promote renewable energy sources. "Study after study tells us that a robust renewable electricity standard requiring utilities to get a quarter of their electricity from sources like the wind and sun would create jobs and save ratepayers money," he said. "This bill's renewable standard is so pitiful that it wouldn't require any new renewable energy development beyond business as usual. Moreover, if any states adopted the loopholes and exemptions in this bill, it could reduce the amount of renewable energy development we expect under existing state policies."
Wentworth cited a UCS analysis that found the energy package's renewable electricity standard would require much less wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy development than what studies by the federal government and others conclude is achievable and affordable. For example, the Department of Energy projects that current state policies and federal incentives would increase renewable energy to about 10.2 percent of total U.S. electricity generation by 2021. By comparison, under the Senate standard, utilities would only have to provide 7.4 percent to 10.7 percent of their electricity from renewable energy by 2021, according to UCS estimates.
Even worse, the Senate standard could threaten the future of the renewable energy industry, Wentworth said. The standard would establish an "alternative compliance payment" option that would allow states to opt out of the federal requirement altogether. In addition, utilities would be able to use alternative compliance payment funds to subsidize new nuclear reactors or coal plants with carbon capture and storage technology instead of renewable energy technologies.
UCS also opposes the Senate version of the Clean Energy Deployment Authority (CEDA), which would establish a fund to provide low cost loans for new energy technologies. Unlike the version in the House's "American Clean Energy and Security Act," the Senate version has virtually no controls to protect taxpayers from defaulted loans, and would not ensure that the funds underwrite a diverse set of technologies.
"The entire fund could be invested in new nuclear reactors or coal plants instead of more cost-effective, low-carbon alternatives," Wentworth said. "The Senate should drop this version unless it adds taxpayer protections that are at least as strong as the House's when the bill gets to the Senate floor."
UCS supports federal transmission legislation that would ensure broad participation in planning and siting new power lines, prioritize access for new renewable facilities, and allocate costs equitably. The bill's transmission provision does not do that.
"Unfortunately, the Senate transmission proposal does nothing to stop new carbon-emitting coal plants from coming on line, and it could even increase production and pollution from the dirtiest existing coal plants," Wentworth explained. "This provision could take us backward to a dirtier past, rather than forward to a clean energy future."
Finally, the bill includes language that would require the secretary of energy to accelerate development of nuclear waste reprocessing technologies, an approach the Obama administration has abandoned.
"Promoting near-term reprocessing is the wrong thing to do," said Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist in the UCS Global Security Program. "Analyses by the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Agency found that reprocessing increases nuclear waste and the risks of proliferation and terrorism, and that further research and development is not likely to solve these problems."
With these four problematic provisions in the final energy package, Wentworth says the committee has missed an enormous opportunity to create a cleaner, more efficient energy system. "Despite Senator Bingaman's best efforts, the chairman was forced to cripple this bill to get it out of committee. In its current form, it would do too much damage to deserve support. We'll work with Chairman Bingaman and other senators on the floor to completely overhaul this bill so it will generate tens of thousands of jobs, save consumers billions of dollars, and dramatically cut the pollution that causes global warming."
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The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
