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E&E News: Obama administration policies 'hamper job creators' -- GOP report

By: Scott Streater, E&E reporter


August 31, 2012


Western Republican leaders are once again attacking President Obama's "all of the above" domestic energy policy, releasing a report that chides the administration for placing too much emphasis on renewable energy sources while ignoring untapped reservoirs of coal, natural gas and hydropower.

What's more, according to the report released yesterday by the Senate and Congressional Western caucuses, the Obama administration's renewables goals have been undermined by legal challenges from "its allies in the extreme environmental activist community." This has slowed commercial-scale solar and wind projects, and the administration is to blame for failing to "rein in its own coalition" and stop the legal roadblocks to both renewables and traditional energy development, the report alleges.

"In spite of their rhetoric, the Obama Administration and its allies have repeatedly taken action to turn off electricity production across America," Senate Western Caucus Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a statement that accompanied the 23-page report.

Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) said the Obama administration is guilty of "hypocrisy" for touting its energy policies, which he said "hamper job creators and handcuff America's energy producers. Our leaders need to understand that the key to prosperity lies in the West and must put policies in place to unleash that potential."

The report, titled "Beyond Belief: The Obama Administration's All Out, None-of-the-Above Energy Strategy," is the latest volley fired in the ongoing conflict over the direction of the nation's energy policy, and particularly the use of federal land to promote renewables development and the implementation of land-use policies that Republicans and the oil and gas industry say emphasize conservation over energy development.

The report's conclusions, particularly its dismissal of the Obama administration's efforts to promote wind and solar power, drew a sharp rebuke from the renewables industry and environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"This report misrepresents the significant achievements made in the last three and a half years to advance clean energy policy and masks the cynical effort of its authors to continue to stack the deck in favor of the dirtiest energy sources: oil, gas and coal," said Noah Long, an attorney in NRDC's energy program. "It also fails to mention that handouts to the profit record-breaking oil industry, nonregulation of gas drilling and land giveaways to the coal industry continue to pollute our nation's air and water, risking our children's health."

The report comes with the Republican National Convention under way in Tampa, Fla., where energy issues are a major topic of discussion in the wake of the release last week of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's energy plan (Greenwire, Aug. 28).

Romney's energy blueprint differs sharply with Obama administration policies, and would among other things hand responsibility for overseeing energy production on federal lands to state governments. The plan also calls for increased domestic energy production, with a heavy focus on offshore exploration as well as coal mining (Greenwire, Aug. 23).

Conversely, supporters of Obama have focused on unprecedented advancements in wind and solar development on federal land. Since taking office in 2009, the Obama administration has permitted 7,200 megawatts of renewable energy on federal lands, and is on course to exceed a goal set by the 2005 Energy Policy Act to permit 10,000 MW of renewable energy by 2015.

Along those lines, the White House this month announced it will expedite approval of seven commercial-scale solar and wind projects on federal and tribal lands in Arizona, California, Nevada and Wyoming that would have the capacity to generate a combined 5,000 MW, or enough to power up to 1.5 million homes (Greenwire, Aug. 7).

Two recent national polls suggest the general public in specific states such as Colorado and Iowa supports the Obama administration's approach to domestic energy development.

"The facts are clear -- the solar industry's rapid growth in residential, commercial and utility scale applications is undeniable proof that solar will play an increasingly important role in America's overall energy portfolio," said Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

'Eclipsed by activists'

The latest Western Caucus report saves some of its harshest criticism for the Obama administration's emphasis on renewables development, taking dead aim at claims that wind, solar and geothermal power should be a centerpiece of America's energy portfolio.

"The Obama administration has touted the development of renewable energy such as wind and solar energy from California all the way to the coast of the mid-Atlantic," according to the report, which quotes a 2010 speech Obama gave in Iowa in which he boasts that "wind could generate as much as 20 percent of America's electricity 20 years from now."

The report quotes federal Energy Information Administration statistics projecting that while energy output from all renewables, including hydropower, is projected to increase 77 percent by 2035, its overall share of the nation's energy output will increase by only about 15 percent.

Ironically, "both his own Administration and countless liberal environmental groups have continued to push for red tape and have stalled wind and solar projects that have the potential to provide energy to all parts of the country," according to the report.

This is particularly true of solar energy, which has been "eclipsed by activists," the Republicans charge. Since Obama took office, "the Obama Administration's record on solar energy has been marred by mismanagement, bad investments, and permitting delays that have stalled progress on solar energy production," according to the report.

The report cites as an example opposition by environmental groups to K Road Power's 663 MW Calico Solar plant in Southern California's Mojave Desert.

NRDC, Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra Club in March filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California claiming that the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service rushed to approve the Calico project in order to meet an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act deadline for federal funding (Greenwire, March 27).

"It is clear that the Obama Administration has failed to rein in its own coalition with regards to solar development," according to the report. "The President has purported to support an energy source, but has let it fall short in the face of opposition from his allies and supporters."

The solar industry and environmentalists counter that the last three years have seen an unprecedented growth in solar power, with California leading the way.

A total of 542 MW of solar power was installed last year in California on federal, state and private land -- tops in the nation, according to statistics provided by the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Collectively, the state has 1,877 MW of installed solar-power capacity, which is also the most of any state. And SEIA recently estimated at least 3,373 MW of utility-scale solar projects are under construction in the state.

"Any honest report on spurring energy development would also support investments in clean energy," said Long, the NRDC attorney.






August 2012 News and Op-Eds