pilgrims’s Recent Comments

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  Let's get our facts straight

  I received a number of panicky missives sent on Thursday and Friday regarding the status of the renewable energy incentives in the Energy Bill.  I do thank all of the well-meaning folks out there for alerting us.  Like many of you, I promptly wrote and called my congresswomen and senators to express my concerns.

  Since I have been to Washington on a few occasions to lobby on behalf of renewable energy issues, I have talked to the various staffers in the California delegation, including Boxer, Feinstein, and Pelosi.  Their offices were closed on Monday, Veterans Day, so I called them today to get more of the inside scoop on the Energy Bill and the status of the renewable energy incentives.  I was told by Lara Levison, a Policy Adviser in Pelosi's office, that there is no intent to drop the RPS or Investment Tax Credit for renewable energy projects, despite what has been claimed elsewhere.

  I am curious to know: where did you get this information?  There are a lot of shrill "alerts" flying around on this issue quoting "concerned advocates" and the like.  I want to know who is the source of this?  Is there any basis for this hysteria?  If not, let's lower the volume and get our facts straight; otherwise we are crying "wolf", losing credibility, wasting political capital, and burning people out.

  Lara did say that the Senate version of the bill, which does not not have as strong support for the ITC, was in trouble and that there was a suggestion that the sections pertaining to renewable energy incentives be removed from the Energy Bill and placed into its own bill or another bill that has better chances of passage.  This may not be a bad idea.

  I then called my contacts at Sen Boxer's office and Sen Feinstein's office.  They were not aware of any intent to drop the ITC or RPS from the senate version of the bill, but promised to research this and get back to me.  I will try to pass along their information to you so that you can get the facts straight from the source.

  Many have argued that the Energy Bill as it stands today is a real stinker, with lots of giveaways to the oil, coal, and ethanol industries and only a pittance for wind, solar and similar renewable energy technologies.  Perhaps it deserves to be defeated and a better bill drafted.  Perhaps the best approach would be to pull the renewable energy incentives out of the Energy Bill, put them into a separate bill that we can support whole-heartedly, and let the bloated and outdated Energy Bill die a well-deserved death.

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  On Dem leadership considers axing renewable energy from the energy bill posted 2 years ago 12 Responses