Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards

Apparently the public isn't completely clueless:

A recent statewide public opinion survey conducted by Fallon Research found that 75.7% of Republicans, 89% of Democrats, and 81.6% of Independents (82.6% overall) said state leaders and elected officials in North Carolina should seek more alternative or renewable energy sources in order to provide consumers and businesses with electricity.

That small percentage of people who oppose renewable energy, for whatever misguided reasons, need to understand: this poll isn't a product of confusion. Even those who question the validity of global warming are aware of the pollution burning coal produces, and even the small percentage of those who dismiss that or try to ignore it know it's unwise to be reliant on finite resources when infinite resources are available. If lawmakers try to reverse the progress we've made in this area, the voters will be (understandably) perplexed and upset. And this part was pleasantly surprising:

Rep. Mike Hager sets his sights on NC's REPS requirement:

But Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherford County views the mandate as the government unfairly “picking winners and losers” in the marketplace. As chairman of the Public Utilities committee, Hager would like to freeze it at the current 3 percent level. “Under our scenario, you would never go to 12.5 percent,” he said.

That's kind of like big energy companies unfairly paying to play in NC elections, so they can bring (what's supposed to be) our government under their power. Why would entities like Duke Energy and REAP care what kind of energy they produce, if they're going to charge us for it anyway? Because traditional power plants cost billions to build, making a lot of influential people even richer:

And North Carolina is a likely battleground:

The Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank skeptical of climate change science, has joined with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council to write model legislation aimed at reversing state renewable energy mandates across the country. The Electricity Freedom Act, adopted by the council’s board of directors in October, would repeal state standards requiring utilities to get a portion of their electricity from renewable power

Here's a copy of the model (cookie-cutter) Legislation, which is riddled with misleading information and outright lies, such as:

Now, this is how you bring more jobs to the state:

North Carolina is now home to 1,792 companies focused on renewable energy, and the state is the site for 1,829 renewable energy systems, according to a new report from the association.

The number of companies jumped from 1,100 last fall to nearly 1,800, based on data gathered by the group as of March. And these numbers could be low, according to the report’s authors.

For those lawmakers listening to JLF/Civitas' propaganda, this should be an eye opener. Ever since SB3 was passed, they've been chomping at the bit to get it repealed. Not because it's a bad program (it isn't), but because of their ties with the fossil fuel industry. Don't listen.