Voices are urgently needed now to encourage passage of H.B. 487 in the Ohio House of Representatives. This bill reinstated the benchmarks and penalties that were deleted from S.B. 221. These provisions are needed to get renewable energy going soon in Ohio. Contact Brandon Cavanagh, Environmental Advocate, at Environment Ohio for specific talking points if you wish to know more before you contact your state representatives and urge them to support these provisions. Let them know how important renewable energy is to you. Reach Brandon at brandon@environmentohio.org or 614-460-8732.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
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When you contact your state representatives, please let them know that Ohio needs benchmarks for BOTH electric Energy Efficiency improvements AND additional Renewable Energy generation of electricity to reduce Ohio's carbon emissions into the air over time.
Now is the time to meet with your State Representative to discuss renewable energy!!!
If you live outside the Columbus area, try to set up an in-district meeting. To find the phone number you should call to set up the meeting, go to:
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp
If you live in the Columbus area, please email me or call me and we can figure out the best time to set up a meeting with your Representative.
brandon@environmentohio.org
614-460-8732
Talking points:
* Ohio's employment is increasing at a significantly slower rate than
that of the United States. Manufacturing jobs have been disappearing. Ohio needs a new vehicle for economic growth, and that vehicle is renewable energy.
* An Ohio renewable energy standard (RES) would create thousands of
new jobs, increase wages paid, and increase the gross state product by
billions of dollars.
* Given its tremendous wind potential and strong manufacturing base, Ohio is ripe for renewable energy development.
* Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted RESs. Consequently, the once nascent renewable energy market is now expanding at an exponential rate, and the states with RESs are seeing the benefits.
* Investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency is the most
effective way to keep electricity rates stable, particularly in the
presence of a carbon cap. Ohio generates almost 90 percent of its
electricity from coal, making a carbon cap very expensive for Ohio. An RES would hedge against the electricity rate increases created by a carbon cap.
* New electricity generation from wind is cheaper than that from new
advanced coal or nuclear.
*The costs of new advanced coal projects have been going UP, while the costs of renewable energy have been going DOWN.
* For an RES to be effective, it must have benchmarks, enforcement,
and penalties for non-compliance. Without benchmarks, Ohio businesses
won't have an expanded market for their products; therefore,
businesses won't be able to hire more workers. Without enforcement and penalties, it is possible that utilities won't meet the benchmarks on time.
* While energy efficiency is crucial and an energy efficiency standard must be in the bill, it must not be allowed to fulfill any of the renewable energy requirement. If energy efficiency were able to help fulfill the renewable energy requirement, it would crowd out renewable energy, and Ohio wouldn't see the kind of renewable energy development that an RES could bring.
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