At
first blush, Gov. Ted Strickland's commitment to clean energy last week
sounded even better than environmentalists had dreamed.
One
fourth _ yes, a full 25 percent _ of all the electricity Ohio produces
should be made using alternative energy sources by 2025. Even
Environment Ohio, the most vocal renewable energy proponents in the
state, had asked only for 20 percent by 2020.
Then came the
catch: Only half of the target the Democratic governor laid out in his
new energy policy will be required to come from renewable energy _ that
is, water, solar, wind or biofuel made from combustible farm products.
The remainder could take the form of advanced nuclear or clean coal
technologies _ in other words, variations on the technologies
dominating the electric market now.
The operable phrase had changed from "renewable energy" to "renewable and advanced energy."
Strickland,
a former congressman from Appalachia, is well aware of the facts: The
number of coal mining jobs in America has fallen from 335,000 in the
1950s to just 79,000 today. Three thousand of those jobs are in Ohio,
mostly in the state's southeastern section where Strickland grew up.
It
was highly unlikely that Ohio's first governor in a generation to hail
from that part of Ohio would have carved the coal industry out of his
administration's most significant energy policy statement.
Still, a 12.5-percent target for renewables had Environment Ohio executive director Erin Bower crying foul.
She
noted that 87 percent of the state's electricity comes from burning
coal, compared with a national average of 53 percent. Ohio is ranked
fourth nationally in its contributions to the country's carbon dioxide
emissions problem, Bower said. Ohio ranks second nationally in the
amount of those emissions coming from coal-fired power plants.
"The
important thing is that the Legislature and our governor really listen
to Ohioans across the state who are clamoring for alternatives to being
so dependent on fossil fuels, which are putting Ohio at the top of the
list for mercury pollution and smog and soot pollution," she said.
To
qualify under Strickland's plan, a clean coal plant must control or
prevent 80 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions that would come from
a traditional plant.
Knowing Strickland would face this policy battle if elected, energy interests lined his campaign coffers generously last year.
FirstEnergy
president and chief executive Tony Alexander and his wife, Becky, gave
a combined $25,000, and the firm's Political Action Committee gave
another $12,500. Cinergy chairman and chief executive James Rogers gave
$10,000. A group of American Electric Power executives, led by chairman
Michael Morris, gave more than $11,000.
Coal magnate Wayne
Boich also gave the Strickland campaign $10,000. And the United Mine
Workers' Political Action Committee, representing unionized coal
miners, gave the Strickland campaign $15,000 _ including $10,000 on
Election Day, state campaign finance filings show.
Utilities
and coal producers also gave handsomely to both chambers of the
Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly, where the governor's
energy bill is expected to land sometime in mid-September.
FirstEnergy
entities gave more than $50,000 to state legislative races, Cinergy's
PAC $14,600, and AEP's Committee for Responsible Government about
$71,000, records show. Meanwhile, members of the Boich family gave
$182,000 in political contributions in 2006, and the Ohio Coal PAC an
additional $35,000.
Bowser said she is hopeful that her
group's arguments in favor of renewable energy can be heard through the
clinking of campaign cash.
"I understand there are special
interests who are making sure that their voices are heard, but I think
it's important for Ohio's leaders to also be listening to Ohioans who
want the jobs renewable energy can provide, who new a cleaner
environment for their children, and who want a stronger economy."
