Associated Press
ANALYSIS
COLUMBUS — 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."
