On the Statehouse steps Tuesday, Environment Ohio, along with Ohio Advanced Energy and president of Third Sun Solar and Wind Power, joined in urging policymakers to remove measures from the pending HB1 (Sykes) – Ohio’s biennial state budget – and report the cost to Ohioans in continuing to spend billions on fossil fuels.
A new report by Environment Ohio, “The High Cost of Fossil Fuels: Why America Can’t Afford to Depend on Dirty Energy,” shows Ohioans are already spending thousands on fossil fuels, and that cost is only expected to increase. At the same time, pollution from fossil fuels is the number one source of air and global warming pollution and a leading source of water pollution, the report states.
Ohio will spend as much as $993.6 billion on oil, coal and other fossil fuels by 2030, 3.7 times the total earnings of all Ohio workers in 2007, said Jennifer Herron, an organizer with Environment Ohio.
“The message of this report is clear. The high cost of fossil fuels is draining our economy and harming our environment and health,” Herron said. “Instead of allowing the costs of fossil fuels to continue to mount, Congress, and the state Legislature should re-power Ohio with clean, renewable energy that will create jobs and reduce pollution.”
She said most Americans do not need to be reminded of the financial cost of the country’s dependence on oil, especially after the gasoline spikes of 2004 and 2008 that strained family budgets. She also pointed to the proportion of fossil fuel spending that goes out of state or overseas, with more than two-thirds of the coal burned in Ohio’s power plants imported from other states.
The report uses government data to quantify current and projected spending on fossil fuel nationally and by state. It shows that in 2006, Ohioans spent $2,898 per capita on fossil fuels. In 2030 that figure will rise to between $3,552 and $4,576 per person, which is an increase of $1,678 per person every year if Ohioans stay on the current energy path.
Some of the key findings in the report include:
- Individual Ohioans will spend as much as $1,678 more per person every year on fossil fuels in 2030, a 58 percent increase over today’s spending;
- High spending on fossil fuels is largely driven by dependence on oil. Ohio is on track to spend as much as $39.4 billion on oil alone in 2030, which is 75 percent of the state’s total spending on fossil fuels.
In addition, clean energy creates jobs in Ohio, since clean energy projects tend to be labor intensive and cannot be outsourced, Herron said.
Herron praised U.S. Reps. Zack Space (D-Dover) and Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) for their vote in favor of federal cap-and-trade legislation, and urged Ohio’s two U.S. senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican George Voinovich, to support the bill as well.
On a national level, the Environment Ohio report states that in 2006, U.S. consumers and businesses spent $921 billion on fossil fuels. The country is on track to spend between $23 trillion and $30 trillion on fossil fuels between 2010 and 2030, the high end of which is more than double the nation’s total economic input in 2007, the report states.
Terrence O’Donnell, representing Ohio Advanced Energy, a business trade association, said Ohio’s state lawmakers made some positive steps with the passage of 127-SB221 (Schuler) – an overhaul of electric utility regulation – but added that provisions in pending state budget bill are sending a message to renewable energy mandates are being weakened.
“Ohio’s renewable energy industries are continuing to grow and provide green jobs for Ohioans throughout the state,” O’Donnell said. “These clean energy industries are at risk if the Legislature continues to chip away at Ohio’s renewable energy law.”
He was referring to budget provisions that would add energy sources like solid-waste incineration and coal-bed methane to the list of sources that could be used to meet renewable energy benchmarks set by the state last year.
Geoff Greenfield, founder and president of Third Sun Solar and Wind, a local renewable energy installation company near Athens, agreed with O’Donnell. “Last year, when Ohio’s lawmakers enacted pro-active renewable energy policy, my company saw an immediate increase in demand. Even in these tough economic times, we have continued to have a thriving renewable energy business,” he said.
Greenfield said what he needs to see for solar particularly is a manufacturing base to supply his company, rather than looking to Massachusetts and other states for their supply chain. He pointed to HB113 (Foley-Blessing), which institutes a pilot program for Ohio’s 70 largest school districts to install renewable energy systems including solar panels, geothermal systems and wind turbines.
Rep. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) said in a statement, “This bill makes sense on so many different levels – school cost containment, green Ohio jobs and environmental education. It is legislation that helps us continue on the transition to the new energy economy.”
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tory originally published in The Hannah Report on June 30, 2009. Copyright 2009 Hannah News Service, Inc.
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