By Tom Schuster, Beyond Coal Campaign Representative
Alternative energy policies are meant to spur innovation and build a clean energy economy, but across the country and right here in Pennsylvania, dirty energy interests are trying to pollute the best clean energy job creator we have.
Cleaner Tier I sources are required to supply at least 8% of our electricity by 2021, which includes 0.5% of total electricity sales from solar. This law has already helped spur development of enough wind and solar power to more than compensate for the recently retired coal plants in the state, and has helped create thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania's wind and solar industries.
Cleaner Tier I sources are required to supply at least 8% of our electricity by 2021, which includes 0.5% of total electricity sales from solar. This law has already helped spur development of enough wind and solar power to more than compensate for the recently retired coal plants in the state, and has helped create thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania's wind and solar industries.
Cleaner Tier I sources are required to supply at least 8% of our electricity by 2021, which includes 0.5% of total electricity sales from solar. This law has already helped spur development of enough wind and solar power to more than compensate for the recently retired coal plants in the state, and has helped create thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania's wind and solar industries.
In 2004, Pennsylvania passed the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) - our state's most meaningful action to address climate disruption to date. This law requires electricity distributors and suppliers to deliver a minimum percentage of electricity from alternative sources by 2021. The sources are divided into two tiers.
Similar laws exist in 30 states, and many have more aggressive targets than Pennsylvania's. And they are having an impact. So far in 2013, 82% of all new generating capacity, nearly 1900 MW, has been wind and solar. Nine US states now get at least 10% of their electricity from wind, and Iowa and South Dakota both get over 20%.
The recent success of renewable energy has finally caused the fossil fuel interests to see these energy sources as a threat to their polluting business model. Renewable energy standards are now under attack in many states, as part of a coordinated campaign by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the climate change denying Heartland Institute, and the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity. Here in Pennsylvania, the Beacon Hill Institute, an ALEC front-group, released a biased report in late 2012 attacking our AEPS, similar to reports in other states that are facing challenges to renewable energy standards. The report's methods and conclusions were thoroughly debunked by Synapse Economics, but the arguments persist.
In April, two bills were introduced in the Pennsylvania House that would weaken or effectively repeal the AEPS in this state. HB 1151 would make energy from garbage incineration eligible for Tier I credits under the AEPS. Tier I credits are reserved for cleaner energy sources, like wind, solar, geothermal, and low-impact hydro power. This could allow incineration to absorb 30-50% of the credits that would otherwise spur more investment in cleaner sources. This bill has been referred to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
The other bill would effectively repeal the AEPS entirely if it became law. HB 1073 would make electricity from natural gas an eligible Tier I fuel. Because we already get more electricity from natural gas that the AEPS requires by 2021, the requirement would be meaningless. This bill has been referred to the House Consumer Affairs Committee.
Incinerators emit extremely toxic air pollutants, like dioxins and furan, and even more carbon and mercury pollution per unit of energy, than coal plants. These pollutants can lead to severe health problems such as cancer, birth defects, and respiratory problems. Composting and recycling can conserve 3-5 times more energy than can be recovered from incineration, so we should be promoting these solutions over burning of trash. Natural gas, meanwhile, is an established fuel that does not need any government incentives. It already commands the third-highest market share in the state, and is therefore not an "alternative." It does not help us address our climate problem because fugitive methane emissions throughout the production and distribution chain make it comparable to coal in terms of total greenhouse gas emissions. And of course there are the well documented threats to water quality posed by fracking.
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