The Public Supports Clean Energy but Politics Is Preventing Win-Wins
| Author | David P. Clarke |
| Position | Writer and editor who has served as a journalist, in industry, and in government |
| Pages | 9-9 |
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | 9
Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, November/December 2021.
Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.
The Federal Beat
AN August United Nations
scientic assessment con-
cluded that “unequivocal”
evidence shows human activities
have inicted “widespread and rapid
changes” across the planet. In Sep-
tember, another UN report prompt-
ed the secretary general to warn, “e
world is on a catastrophic pathway”
even if all Paris Agreement com-
mitments are met. To the Union of
Concerned Scientists’ Rachel Clee-
tus, her organization is now “beyond
concerned,” with members’ feeling
“heartbroken” by worsening climate
damage and “alarmed” and “angry”
at policymakers’ failure to act.
Frustration runs deep, not only
because the climate crisis is mount-
ing but also because major policy
advances are so tantalizingly close
and hold out prospects for win-win
actions.
In September, following an intensive
two-day markup, the House Energy
and Commerce Committee passed a
major portion of the Democrats’ $3.5
trillion budget recon-
ciliation package. e
bill included a $150
billion Clean Elec-
tricity Performance
Program that environ-
mentalists and Demo-
cratic sponsors argue
would generate almost eight million
jobs, $1 trillion in economic activity
over the next 10 years, and serve as the
“most powerful tool” for decarbonizing
the power sector. e Department of
Energy would oer electricity suppli-
ers grants if they increase their clean
supply by four percent compared with
their previous year’s performance, and
would penalize generators that fail to.
But Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV),
whose vote is indispensable for Demo-
crats to pass a reconciliation bill in the
50-50 divided Senate, opposes both the
CEPP and the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion
package full of clean energy funding.
Another signicant clean energy
proposal that has galvanized atten-
tion is a DOE study described as “the
most comprehensive review to date”
of solar energy’s potential role in de-
carbonizing both the U.S. electricity
grid and broader energy system. e
study concludes that solar energy could
“power all of the homes in the U.S. by
2035 and employ as many as 1.5 mil-
lion people in the process,” said Energy
Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a state-
ment. But Granholm emphasized that
“strong decarbonization policies” will
be needed to raise solar energy’s level
from its current 3 percent to 40 percent
(or 1,000 gigawatts) by 2035, and as
high as 3,000 gigawatts by 2050.
However, as noted by the CEO of
the Solar Energy Industries Association,
Abigail Ross Hopper, “policy, plain and
simple” will be the greatest hurdle to
raising solar to 40 percent. “e blue-
print is there, the American people sup-
port it, and now it’s up to policymakers
to make it happen,” she says.
Greg Wetstone, CEO of the broad-
based nonprot
American Council on
Renewable Energy, ex-
presses optimism that
legislation can move
forward, despite the
challenges of “default
partisanship on every
issue.” DOE’s solar study demonstrates
that the United States can make the
needed clean energy transition “rapidly
enough” without increasing electricity
costs to consumers, “two really impor-
tant conclusions.” Democrats’ reconcil-
iation bill policies will be “foundation-
al” both for achieving the study’s targets
and for driving national economic
growth, he adds.
SEIA’s Hopper also emphasizes the
solar study’s signicance in helping to
“make it clearer than ever that solar is
a real solution to the climate crisis.”
With the right policies, the U.S. can
decarbonize its electric grid using solar
and storage while keeping electricity
costs low and generating hundreds of
thousands of new career opportunities
across the country, she says.
Among necessary policies are the
CEPP and a 30 percent investment tax
credit for solar. e House panel’s Sep-
tember markup includes investment
tax credits for solar and for storage, and
other provisions that SEIA and more
than 700 solar companies called for
in a letter to President Joe Biden and
congressional leaders. Although SEIA
is “encouraged” by the “sweeping cli-
mate and energy legislation” approved
by the House Energy and Commerce
and Ways and Means committees, says
Hopper, she cautions that “there is a
long road ahead in getting legislation to
the president’s desk.”
Doubtless, intense legislative ghts
can be expected. But Wetstone un-
derscores reasons to be hopeful that
“some version of the CEPP” and
other critical policies will proceed, in-
cluding Biden’s unprecedented presi-
dential commitment to climate ac-
tion, as well as the increasingly visible
“horric, immediate implications” of
climate change. Moreover, he says,
the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-
mission is signaling “a really dramatic
change” in rules allowing renewable
energy to compete in electricity mar-
kets. But the movement toward clean
energy has to be “accelerated on a cli-
mate time frame,” he adds.
Here’s hoping climate evidence and
redoubled legislative eorts make 2021
a year of win-win policy breakthroughs.
he Public Supports Clean Energy
but Politics Is Preventing Win-Wins
Legislation could
achieve clean energy
objectives and create
thousands of jobs
Davi d P. Cl arke is a write r and
editor who ha s served as a journa list,
in industr y, and in government. Emai l
him at davidpaulclarke@gmail.com.
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