House bill would force Kentucky to use more renewable

THE COURIER-JOURNAL - FEBRUARY 10, 2010
By James Bruggers

Utility companies in Kentucky would be required to get as much as 12.5 percent of their electricity from renewable sources — like wind, water and the sun — by 2020 under a bill filed this week in the General Assembly.

The bill also would require utilities to establish energy-saving programs that could include weatherization initiatives and rebates for efficient appliances to save its residential customers as much as 10.25 percent of electricity use within 10 years.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, acknowledges that its goals are ambitious and it may not gain enough support to pass the current General Assembly.

“Any time you are dealing with complicated and serious legislation, sometimes it takes more than one session,” Moberly said. “Looking long term, our consumers in Kentucky are going to be much better off if we can develop our renewable industry.”

In an interview, Moberly said that it would be hard enough getting it through the House and that he would worry about the Republican-controlled Senate later. No companion bill has been filed in the Senate.

“All Kentuckians should be skeptical … because pretty much what it does is systematically over several years eleminate coal and high-paying coal jobs,” Dave Moss, vice president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said of the bill.

Moberly said he said he supports efforts to keep coal viable through better management of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.“But part of the answer is to increase the use of renewables,” he said. “I hope we can convince others to be on board for the same reasons.”

Chris Whalen, spokeswoman for E.On U.S., which includes LG&E and Kentucky Utilities, said her company has not had time to evaluate the bill. She said that generally, E.On is concerned that renewable energy is more expensive than coal, which now provides more than 90 percent of the state’s electricity.

LG&E and KU serve 389,000 and 508,000 electric customers in Kentucky, respectively.

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the bill’s merit or prospects for passage, saying he hadn’t had an opportunity to review it.

Separately, Adkins is supporting a measure that would encourage the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to back away from plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a way to curb global warming. It’s scheduled to get a hearing Thursday, the same day that hundreds of environmentalists are expected to attend a rally against strip mining of coal.

The Moberly bill picks up on some of the points in Gov. Steve Beshear’s energy plan, which proposes meeting 25 percent of Kentucky’s energy needs by 2025 with greater efficiency and use of renewable resources.

Karen Wilson, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Energy and Environmental Cabinet, said administration officials were reviewing Moberly’s bill and had not taken a position on it.

The bill would provide financial incentives to help launch a renewable energy industry in Kentucky — tapping sources such as hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind and landfill methane — while also helping Kentuckians save money by giving them incentives to make their homes and businesses more efficient.

“We consider this to be … a clean (energy) bill,” said Elizabeth Crowe, executive director of the Berea-based Kentucky Environmental Foundation. “It doesn’t have clean coal in it. It doesn’t talk about slashing the forest to have biomass”

Biomass includes wood chips, corn stalks and manure as well as crops like switchgrass and miscanthus — a tall perennial grass — to power electricity generators.

The bill contains provisions similar to some recommended by a recent governor’s task force that stressed biomass energy as a way to create as many as 10,000 jobs.

Moberly’s bill was largely drafted by Louisville attorney Tom FitzGerald for the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, a new coalition of environmental organizations and clean energy businesses such as the Kentucky Solar Partnership, Community Farm Alliance, Kentucky Environmental Foundation, Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, which is also a member of the alliance, noted that any restrictions on greenhouse gasses from power plants will likely push the state’s energy costs higher.

Moving toward more renewable sources and mandating energy efficiency could prevent those higher costs, he said.

“This provides the best hedge we can (to) get out ahead of that curve,” FitzGerald said.

Reporter James Bruggers can be reached at (502) 582-4645.