For many years, the California Legislature in Sacramento has been at the vanguard of clean energy and climate change initiatives, including a landmark cap-and-trade program and, recently, a goal of 100 percent zero-carbon electricity by 2050.
“You can’t get any cleaner than that,” notes Jessica Nelson, general manager of Golden State Power Cooperative.
Nelson soon may be getting company, as areas stretching from the Olympic Rain Forest to the Sonoran Desert are also poised to tackle carbon emissions in 2019, with proposals as diverse as the Western landscape.
While cutting carbon emissions in the Western states will have, according to experts, a limited impact on a global problem, there is still enthusiasm among some Western elected officials to take a national leadership role in climate change, hoping to spur innovation and jobs in a clean-energy economy.
As gavels prepare to come down in state capitols across the West, electric cooperative legislative representatives are attempting to answer a fundamental question: How do these proposals affect the delivery of safe, reliable and affordable electricity to consumers?
There is no easy answer. In some cases, the proposals are not much more than lofty ideas in a press release. But when unveiled, electric cooperative leaders will scrub the fine print—even in the Pacific Northwest, where the electricity profile is already more than 90 percent emission-free due to a reliance on hydroelectric power and nuclear plants marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration.
Why the vigilance? It seems the definition of clean energy is often in the eye of the beholder.
Kent Lopez, general manager of the Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association, says a proposed clean energy standard in the Evergreen State will mandate utilities to be 80 percent emission free by 2035 and 100 percent by 2045.
No matter the target, Lopez is lobbying legislators to make sure any mandate is “technology neutral” and includes the massive dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, as well as the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant. He also wants lawmakers to maintain the reliability of the electric grid.
“We’re worried about the cold night in February when the wind isn’t blowing, the sun isn’t shining and the hydro system is maxed out,” he says. “Preventing a blackout requires some flexibility.”
The Oregon Legislature is taking a different approach than its neighbor to the north, advancing a complex cap-and-trade program to limit carbon emissions, which is aligned with what California put in place in 2012. A special Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction met throughout 2018 in preparation for the session.
“We’re working to get this right,” says Sen. Mike Dembrow, an influential Portland Democrat who is helping to craft the bill. “I predict this bill will pass this session.”
One thorny issue is how the legislation will affect the transportation sector—the largest slice of emissions in the state. An increase in gas prices could disproportionally affect rural Oregonians who often drive long distances for basic services, such as medical care.
If Oregon’s energy agenda is all but set, the wild frontier of Alaska continues to be wide open when it comes to legislative priorities, says Michael Rovito, director of member and public relations for the Alaska Power Association, which represents electric utilities in the state.
Rovito says the election of a new Republican governor—Mike Dunleavy—and an uncertain power structure in the state House of Representatives creates uncertainty around energy-related issues in Juneau. However, Rovito says APA has communicated with Dunleavy about the importance of rejecting regulations that increase electricity costs for Alaska consumers.
While it appears Idaho, which has one of the lowest electricity rates in the nation, will be quiet on energy issues in its legislature, Nevada will again be at ground zero for a vigorous debate involving electricity providers.
Hank James, executive director of the Nevada Rural Electric Association, says his state’s electric cooperatives are certainly battle-tested after helping defeat Question 3—a controversial “energy choice” measure rejected by voters in November, particularly among voters in rural areas.
“It was the best grassroots campaign I’ve ever seen,” James says.
Now the Nevada Legislature will focus on strengthening the state’s renewable portfolio standard, even though the ink is barely dry on a 50 percent renewable mandate that passed on the November ballot (known as Question 6).
Like his Northwest counterparts, James wants to ensure legislators include hydropower in the definition of renewable sources of energy.
Arizona’s electric cooperatives are also faced with a clean energy plan, but this debate will not take place in the marbled halls of a state capitol.
Casey Ratlief, director of government relations and grassroots advocacy for Grand Canyon State Electric Cooperative Association, says the Arizona Corporation Commission—comprised of five elected officials—is working to advance a clean energy plan with an 80 percent clean energy target by 2050.
Ratlief says this target poses affordability and reliability problems for Arizona electric co-op member-consumers because of the scarcity of clean resources in the state. Lacking any viable nuclear, wind and geothermal resources, Arizona electric co-ops are left with only solar energy that, until technology improves, is still an intermittent resource.
“We’re really hoping battery storage will progress quickly,” Ratlief says.
For electric cooperatives in the West, it may take more than luck to succeed in what could be the most dynamic policy debate ever around the issue of carbon emissions. It will take active engagement with elected officials of not only electric cooperative leaders and their legislative representatives, but perhaps a robust grassroots campaign by consumers who could be affected by these decisions.
For electric cooperatives in the West, it may take more than luck to succeed in what could be the most dynamic policy debate ever around the issue of carbon emissions. It will take active engagement with elected officials of not only electric cooperative leaders and their legislative representatives, but perhaps a robust grassroots campaign by consumers who could be affected by these decisions.
It doesn’t get any cleaner than that.