Thank you, Chairman Hagan and members of the committee for the opportunity to
speak with you today about House Bill 487. My name is Amy Gomberg and I am an
Advocate with Environment Ohio, a non-profit environmental advocacy
organization.
I would like to start by thanking Governor Strickland for
recognizing that diversifying our electricity mix with renewable energy and
energy efficiency, as well as including these measures as a part of the restructuring
issue are key to developing a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future for
Ohio. Additionally, we appreciate the
commitment of this committee in your continued efforts on this issue. I would
also like to thank Representative Jim McGregor for his continuous work on
renewable energy policies, both as the chairman of the Alternative Energy
Committee, and as the primary sponsor of House Bill 487.
House Bill 487 will position Ohio to reap the
economic and environmental benefits of developing Ohio's renewable energy and energy
efficiency resources while mitigating the potential for escalating electricity
prices. Generating at least 12.5% of Ohio's
electricity from clean, renewable sources by 2025 and reducing the overall
consumption of electricity 22% by 2025 will keep more of Ohioans' hard-earned
dollars in-state, create jobs, boost local economies, save rate-payers money
and reduce pollution.
House Bill 487 is a significant improvement upon the proposed advanced energy
standard in Sub Senate Bill 221, and if passed will create a much stronger,
sustainable energy policy for Ohio.
We are particularly supportive of the following key improvements in HB 487:
- Annual
benchmarks, beginning in 2009, for meeting both the renewable energy and
energy efficiency standards;
- Directive
for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to annually track and enforce
the renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.
- Specific
enforcement mechanisms - including payments for noncompliance- that will
hold utilities accountable to meet the standards;
- A
solar carve-out of 1% solar energy by 2025, with benchmarks starting in
2009, which will dramatically foster the growth of a solar market,
helping to grow existing businesses and attract new businesses.
Additionally, this solar requirement will ease the strain on the
electricity grid and long term energy prices due to solar’s strong
performance during peak energy use hours.
- The
development of the Ohio Renewable Energy Authority which will identify and
expand job opportunities in renewable energy businesses located in the
state of Ohio;
- An
energy efficiency standard that requires a phased in 22% cumulative energy
reduction based on total delivered electric load and a 7.75% reduction in
peak load by 2025.
- A
clear definition of hydropower that specifies the types of hydropower that
qualify as renewable energy resources.
- An
in-state renewable requirement that ensures local development of renewable
energy resources.
If signed into law, this bill will send a clear signal to the renewable energy
industry that Ohio
is open for business, today.
While we are very supportive of this bill, we would like to recommend a few changes
and clarifications. First, we recommend that you remove nuclear energy from the
eligible advanced energy technologies. Second, we hope that you will clarify that
only "new" renewable energy resources will be eligible for meeting
the benchmarks in this bill. The Energy Information Administration has
calculated that ~0.7% of Ohio's
current electricity mix already comes from renewable energy resources. If this
renewable energy is eligible to meet the requirements in HB 487, then Ohio has already met the
first 2 years of the bill’s renewable energy requirement. We need to make sure
that NEW renewable energy is required by the end of 2009. And lastly, we strongly support the inclusion
of penalties in this bill. One way to ensure that these penalties remain effective
over the lifetime of the standard is to link their amount with either the
consumer price index or inflation.
The clock is ticking for Ohio to compete with
the rest of the U.S.
for the economic and environmental benefits that developing our renewable
energy resources has to offer.
We commend Governor Strickland
for introducing a bill with guidelines for increasing renewable energy in Ohio. We also commend
Speaker Husted, Representative Jim McGregor, and the Public Utilities Committee
for improving the proposed renewable energy measure such that Ohio will actually realize its significant
renewable energy potential in the near future. This leadership combined with
the bi-partisan support for a clean energy future will bolster Ohio's economy, reduce
pollution and protect
ratepayers from the rising costs of energy.
Given the economic and
environmental benefits that Ohio
could reap as well as the broad based support that exists for a strong
renewable energy standard, we urge you to make sure that any energy policy
considered and voted on in the House of Representatives includes these strong
measures.
We thank you for considering HB 487, and encourage you to
include these measures in any energy bill that is passed out of your committee.
