The Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council are working together to see state renewable energy mandates across the country reversed. Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C. have binding renewable energy standards. Model legislation – the Electricity Freedom Act – would repeal these standards. The Council says they are essentially taxes on consumers of electricity. It was written by the Heartland Institute’s Senior Fellow for Environmental Policy James Taylor and adopted by the council’s board of directors in October. Taylor argues alternative energy – renewable energy – is more expensive than conventional energy. Todd Wynn Directs the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force. He says members of his group are not opposed to renewable energy – but are opposed to government intervention mandating certain energy sources over others. He says they also worry about the impact of renewable energy mandates on their state’s economies and constituents.
The American Wind Energy Association – a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council – questioned the new policy. It’s also been questioned by the watchdog group Checks and Balances Project. The group’s co-director said the legislation and economic reports that suggest state mandates would cost consumers hundreds-of-millions of dollars amount to a one-two punch against clean energy laws by fossil-fuel interests.
Similar efforts to repeal state renewable standards have failed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. American Wind Energy Association Senior Vice President for Public Policy Rob Gramlich says renewable standards have had bipartisan support over the last decade – even before the dramatic growth in manufacturing and construction jobs created by the industry. His group is confident attacks on state renewable energy policies will fail again in 2013.
source: NAFB News Service