GOP's appalling attacks on renewable energy in Kansas, Missouri
Lawmakers are stooping to some dirty tactics to attack clean energy on both sides of the state line.
In Missouri, the Republican-led House last week voted to essentially gut a voter-approved mandate that requires electric utilities to create more renewable energy in the state. The legislators’ actions are short-sighted and a flagrant repudiation of the will of the voters.
Two-thirds of Missouri voters in 2008 approved renewable energy standards that require investor-owned utilities to get 2 percent of their electric generation from renewable sources by 2013 and 15 percent by 2021.
The House bill caters to a few large utilities, especially St. Louis-based Ameren Inc., which want to avoid investing in wind and solar power. Instead, they want to count existing large hydroelectric power sources as “new” renewable energy, even though the 2008 voter initiative appears to prohibit that approach.
The bill does not directly affect Kansas City Power & Light, the primary utility serving this region. On Monday KCP&L officials said they hoped to meet Missouri’s standards primarily through the use of new wind farms.
The Senate should not endorse the House bill, and Gov. Jay Nixon should have his veto pen ready if the measure makes it to him.
- In Kansas, efforts to roll back the state’s renewable energy standards are being led by Republican lawmakers. One of their attacks is that there’s not enough evidence to show man-made greenhouse gases are warming the Earth’s atmosphere.
Actually, this is exactly what’s going on, according to a near-consensus view of the worldwide scientific community. It’s just that climate change deniers don’t want to believe the evidence.
A number of Kansas GOP legislators claim there’s no reason to be so aggressive with the state’s law, approved by the Legislature in 2009. It requires utilities to generate 10 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2011 and 20 percent by 2020.
Fortunately, the Senate and the House in recent days have turned back attempts to water down the state law, although both bills could be resurrected.
KCP&L officials say they are on target to meet Kansas’ ultimate standards, again mostly through wind power. However, they note that transmission lines must be added in the state to get more wind-produced electricity to customers.
Gov. Sam Brownback needs to be front and center in making sure his GOP colleagues keep their hands off the renewable energy mandates. To his credit, Brownback has fought hard to expand the private sector’s job-producing investments in wind energy in recent years.
Instead of attacking clean energy laws, legislators should spend more time making sure clean, reliable and affordable renewables make up a good-sized portion of the electricity produced in Kansas and Missouri.
George Hunsucker
Northland
2 months, 2 weeks agoyup, states should do all they can to make themselves non-competitive, and “green energy” is one of the proven avenues for doing this.
You libs’ vaunted “green energy” is not competitive, and exists solely due to subsidies and dumbass laws mandating the usage.
The EPA suing gasoline producers for not using non-existent cellulosic ethanol is just another example of the delusions you libs have about “green energy”…
MO & KS have the opportunity to say NO to these hairbrain ideas…. DO IT!!!!
Steven Fetter
66223
2 months, 2 weeks agoPerhaps they are concerned about the poor and those that will suffer as utility costs rise.
Perhaps they are concerned about the taxpayers and the impact of replacing reliable revenue from current utilities with the exemptions that alternative sources receive.
Perhaps they are concerned about the doubtful results green energy will on the cyclical weather cycles.
The alternative energy bills caters to a few producers, primarily German based Siemans and tax avoiding, multi national GE.
Let the consumers decide on how we will power our businesses, homes, and vehicles in the future. Not the lobbyists.
George Hunsucker
Northland
2 months, 2 weeks agobut Steven, where would the jobs be for all the tree-huggers??????
This is all about power, power to tell us how to live our lives that the fascists love to exercise…
Jake White
2 months, 2 weeks agoHoly moly, now the tree-huggers and the fascists are in cahoots!?!
It’s impressive that a koala bear was able to attain a fifth grade education, but in sixth grade they teach you about how fascists and tree huggers don’t like each other.
And in seventh grade they teach you about the BP oil spill, about Chernobyl, about the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
If you make it to eighth grade, you might get to learn about the war criminals Colin Powell and Richard Cheney, and about how Iraq has a lot of oil that the US gov has spent trillions to open to corporate interests!
Sound tempting? Oh, sorry, Missouri is cutting its middle school education because it needs to remain “competitive”. Looks like you missed the boat, buddy!
George Hunsucker
Northland
2 months, 2 weeks agojake,
You are showing some lack of knowledge… There is NO SUCH THING AS A KOALA BEAR. It is simply a koala.
Maybe someone else needs some early-learning. Tree huggers are merely another type of fascist, each telling me they know best how I should be leading my life vs. leaving me alone….
Mark Hastert
2 months, 2 weeks ago“It is simply a koala…..”
Now there’s devastating refutation of Jake’s commentary. Presumably GH is not contesting the rest? What do you say we end corporate welfare for oil, gas & coal too? that would go along way toward leveling the playing field for all. And how did Kansas go from “Saudi Arabia of wind” to stoke those coal boilers? Maybe all the wind is concentrated in Topeka. No matter how much the carbon lovers dig in their heels and whine renewables are going to win in the end if for no other reason than we’ll be choking to death on the fumes and getting our insides rotted from the pollution. There’s a legacy “Grandpa poisoned us but he got all that cheap energy!”