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Friday, March 22, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Republicans fail to kill part of energy bill

Provision seeks renewable sources

WASHINGTON -- A Republican attempt to kill legislation directing utilities to use more renewable energy sources was thwarted Thursday in the Senate.

During debate on an energy bill, Democrats defeated an effort by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to strip a provision that calls on utilities to generate at least 10 percent of their power from solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources by 2020.

During two days of debate, Republicans warned against forcing utilities to find expensive, futuristic energy sources instead of traditional coal and natural gas.

Democrats argued in favor of more reliance on renewable energy.

Kyl's amendment was rejected, 58-40. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted against it.

Nevada has enacted a "renewable portfolio standard," calling for 15 percent of its energy to be renewable by 2015, the toughest in the nation.

Some renewable-energy proponents call Nevada "the Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy" because of its potential, as detailed by U.S. Geological Survey maps estimating where the most untapped steam is located.

Kyl said the renewable portfolio standard would benefit only a small number of companies at the expense of ratepayers, who would face higher utility bills.

"There will be a tremendous transfer of wealth in this country," Kyl said. He said that though Arizona might benefit by housing solar energy plants, he thinks a federal mandate to use renewable energy would hurt consumers.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., touted his state's capacity to generate wind energy. One wind turbine on a quarter-acre can produce enough energy to heat 4,000 homes, Dorgan said.

"Let's establish a national goal," Dorgan said.

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, presented statistics on the benefit of increased oil exploration. He said if 2,000 acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are opened for drilling, the area would produce 1 million barrels of oil. A California wind farm on 1,500 acres generates 800 kilowatts of power, the equivalent of 1,360 barrels of oil.

"That's a lot of windmills," Murkowski said. "And windmills are a Cuisinart for birds."

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, argued that windmills are just plain ugly.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has offered to change the renewable portfolio standard to exempt municipal utilities and co-op utilities and allow forest products to be considered biomass.

He argued that in the next two decades, utilities will have to increase their capacities, regardless of the source.

"We are going to start either finding more expensive natural gas somewhere, or we are going to start importing more and more of our natural gas ... from the Middle East and other places," Bingaman said.

Bingaman cited Energy Department statistics showing that 69 percent of the nation's energy comes from coal and natural gas. Without a mandate to diversify that portfolio to include alternatives, by 2020, nearly 80 percent of the nation's energy will come from those same two sources.

"That's not smart," he said.

Kyl said renewable-energy producers already receive federal aid in tax breaks that help them offset the cost of building new generating plants.

But not all renewable sources are included in the tax code, giving some, such as wind, an advantage.

Kyl said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham supported his amendment.

Bingaman said that President Bush, when he was governor of Texas, signed a law creating a renewable portfolio standard for that state.