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Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

The Right’s War on Renewable Energy Could Doom Red States

Author:     BRAD JACOBSON
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013 08:54 AM PST
 Link: The Right’s War on Renewable Energy Could Doom Red States
Stephan:   Here is an excellent assessment explaining what is blocking the United States from developing a serious commitment to transit out of carbon based energy. President Obama mentioned noncarbon energy in his State of the Union address last night, but I think the truth is that once again the only real solution is for social progressives to vote. Both parties are certainly linked in many ways leading to the corruption of the democratic system in the service of corporate interests. But they are not the same, and it is a false equivalency to assert that they are. The idea that there is no difference between the parties is pernicious nonsense. Of the two, based on facts, there is a significant difference between the Republican and Democratic views on noncarbon energy.

Despite impressive green economic growth during this country’s job-challenged recovery, particularly in the wind energy sector, the conservative right is systematically seeking to reverse this trend by repealing state-mandated renewable energy targets, even if many of the states that stand to lose jobs and economic opportunity lean red.

AlterNet Right-wing groups funded by the fossil-fuel industry and the billionaire Koch brothers are rolling out a nationwide assault to repeal state Renewable Electricity Standards (RES), a key component, along with such federal tax incentives as the wind production tax credit (PTC), in driving renewable energy growth in the United States.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia currently have a state-mandated RES (also known as a Renewable Portfolio Standard). Traditionally, the renewable electricity standard has received bipartisan support. Efforts in recent years to repeal or weaken state renewable standards have largely failed.

But a November 2012 Washington Post investigation revealed that the fossil-fuel and Koch-funded American Legislative Council (ALEC) and the climate-denying Heartland Institute are making this a nationwide priority in 2013.

The push to repeal these renewable standards is already evident in state legislatures in North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio.

Still, Jeff Deyette, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called this […]

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