Energy In the News

By Al Dorgan and Megan Ahearn

July 31, 2007

Energy prices, the conflict in the Middle East and growing concern over the progress of global warming have jumpstarted a long-stalled national conversation about the direction of America’s energy policy.

The U.S. House of Representatives will take up that conversation as they debate energy legislation as early as this week. There has never been deeper public support for increasing the amount of power we get from renewable energy.

Americans have begun to demand that their elected officials plot a course for U.S. energy independence. Weary of the nation’s reliance on unstable and limited foreign energy sources and Enron-crafted national energy policy, the public has collectively concluded that America must develop environmentally and economically sound solutions to quell our voracious thirst for energy.

The U.S., once the world leader in renewable energy technology, has fallen behind Japan, Germany and Spain. Germany, a country with a land mass the size of Oregon, now employs over 40,000 workers in its wind energy industry; Denmark employs another 20,000. Both of these countries have wind resources that are only a fraction of those in our nation’s windiest states. In Germany, the wind energy industry is the second-largest consumer of steel next to the automotive industry.

Communities, counties and states have realized how immense the potential benefits are, and they’ve been taking action. Twenty-three states have passed renewable-energy standards, committing to renewable energy targets as high as Oregon’s 25 percent by 2025.

Oregon’s renewable energy standard has helped draw two new solar-chip manufacturing facilities to the state and attracted the interest of wind developers who are already approaching Oregon farmers about hosting wind turbines. Pennsylvania’s standard has spurred investment in four plants building wind energy equipment. In just one of many examples, 1,000 Americans will go back to work on the site of a former U.S. Steel mill outside of Fairless, Pa., building wind turbines — as a result of Pennsylvania’s standard.

Developing our renewable energy resources will create jobs, save consumers money and bolster rural economies. The Union of Concerned Scientists has found that a national standard requiring 20 percent of electric generation from renewable energy sources by the year 2020 will save consumers tens of billions of dollars in lower electricity and natural gas bills; by 2030 those cumulative savings would balloon to $31.8 billion. It will also create over 180,000 new jobs — nearly twice as many as generating the same amount of power from fossil fuels — and cut global warming pollution by 263 million metric tons in 2030, the equivalent of taking 43 million cars off the road.

Now it’s time for Congress to act. Reps. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) have introduced a national renewable electricity standard in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation would require utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020.

By supporting this bill, Reps. Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley and David Wu can help build a cleaner and more secure future for America, and once again make the U.S. the world’s clean-energy technology leader.

Al Dorgan of Albany is president of the United Steelworkers of America Local 7150 and can be reached at (541) 926-6789. Megan Ahearn of Portland is a field organizer with Environment Oregon. She can be reached at (503) 231-1986.