More Green Taxes for California

Governors Kulongoski and Schwarzenegger have rather similar approaches to dealing with some of their political difficulties...they announce another environmental initiative.     

California utilities, already struggling to meet a law requiring more renewable energy, saw the bar raised even higher Monday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order calling on utilities to provide one-third of their power from renewable resources by 2020.

"This will be the most aggressive target in the nation," he said.

Increased reliance on renewable energy conceivably could hike future rates, however, because of higher production costs and the need to upgrade transmission facilities.

Conceivably??  Even with subsidies, wind and solar aren't close to competitive with coal and natural gas.  Geothermal could prove affordable if it weren't for all the red tape and lawsuits involved in getting approval.  Et cetera.  Bottom line is that this initiative taxes consumers and businesses twice--through the higher cost of electricity and the subsidies that renewable energies siphon from the state and federal budgets.   

But, there is some method to Schwarzenegger's catastrophism.  First, the state's not going to meet the governor's goal of getting 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2010...last year, the state stood at 12 percent.  So rather than waiting to finish failing, Schwarzenegger is setting a more aggressive goal...that conveniently won't come due on his watch.  Second, renewable energy goals like these can be met through growth rather than just conservation, which is obviously more limiting.  And third...

In announcing the new goal, Gov. Schwarzenegger specifically targeted environmental opposition to new projects: “[W]e won’t meet that goal doing business as usual, where environmental regulations are holding up environmental progress in some cases. This executive order will clear the red tape for renewable projects and streamline the permitting and siting of new plants and transmission lines.”

Transmission is the biggest obstacle to boosting renewable energy in California and other states, as recent utility-sector reports show. The permitting process for new transmission lines is time-consuming, and cumbersome. The environmental impact statement for a single, 150-mile transmission project in southern California, for instance, runs to 11,000 pages.

With lower clean-energy targets, state regulators could mollify environmentalists. The California Public Utilities Commission, for instance, appears set to deny permission for that 150-mile transmission project—the “Sunrise Powerlink”—because utilities don’t need it to reach their 20% target, and the environmental impacts are too great.

Returning to the original link...

Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, predicted that the incoming Legislature will pass such legislation within 90 days after returning in January.

"When we meet these standards, we will not only be creating our own energy independence, we will also be providing the pathway to high-wage jobs and economic growth for California," Steinberg said.

Expensive energy makes California less competitive, which is the pathway to less jobs.  Someday that electricity may prove to be a bargain compared to fossil fuels, but it won't be any time soon. 

And if renewable energy goals are going to make California more energy independent, why are so many wind energy plants that supply California being built here in Oregon?  It's probably similar to the NIMBYism that drove new coal plants into Arizona, Nevada, etc.  

I still wonder if Oregon hasn't ended up subsidizing some of California's renewable energy.  I'd love to get a hold of some of that math.

Comments

[Bob Baran]

I think Governor Scwarzenegger is trying to side step environmental regulations with his executive order.
Hypocritical to claim that you are going to clear the way for green energy projects at the expense of cutting through Anza Borrego Desert State Park and the San Diego backcountry.

[OregonGuy]

I am amazed at the forthrightness of the quoted author, "Increased reliance on renewable energy conceivably could hike future rates..."

This conceiving that could possibly take place, how will it be measured? I mean, how much of a rate increase would be due to the role played by greedy corporations, and how much could be attributed to bad energy policy?

Governments are here to help us. Greedy corporations want more money. Which would you vote for? Good government, or greedy corporations?
.