Group calls on Congress to aid environment

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A California environmental advocacy group applauded a recent report on renewable energy by the Union of Concerned Scientists, using its findings to back their request that the national government increase the country’s renewable electricity standard.
Standing near the steps of the county courthouse in Santa Barbara yesterday, organizers with Environment California called for Congress to approve a House bill that would require utilities to increase their use of renewable resources to 20 percent by 2020.

“Turning on renewables in California would cut energy costs not only for individual families, but for small businesses and large energy users,” said Stephanie Harnett, campaign coordinator for the Santa Barbara office of Environment California. She added that an increased renewable electricity standard “would generate 16,000 new jobs in California, lower electric and natural gas bills, and also slash global warming pollution.”
Quoting statistics from the UCS report, Harnett said the state’s consumers could potentially save $1.85 billion by 2020 due to lower energy bills by setting a 20 percent standard.
David Lea, a UC Santa Barbara professor of paleoclimatology also present at the event, partly disagreed with those findings.
“If we want to replace fossil fuels with alternative energy, there is going to be an increase in cost,” Lea said. He suggested developing coal energy plants that would capture carbon dioxide emissions, a solution to the dwindling natural gas and oil reserves that he said would last “well into the next century.”
“There are no renewables as cheap as coal,” Lea said. However, he acknowledged that coal reserves will eventually run out, saying, “We’re ultimately going to have to find an alternative.”
Tam Hunt, environmental project director with the Community Environmental Council, said the economic figures stated in the UCS report are accurate and attainable. Wind and geothermal power, as well as ethanol, are cheaper than fossil fuels, Hunt said, and solar power will be cheaper within 10 years.
Christine Elliot, speaking on behalf of Congresswoman Lois Capps, said the congresswoman is cosponsoring the bill along with more than 120 other representatives, and will continue to fight for renewable energy.
“There’s just no way to drill our way out of this problem,” Elliot said, adding that “we have the technology in this community that addresses all of our energy needs.”
As a nation, less than 1 percent of our energy comes from renewable sources, organizers at the event said. California law mandates that the state reach a 20 percent standard by 2010, although experts predict that won’t actually happen until 2013.
According to the UCS report, the standard would save consumers $10.5 billion nationwide by 2020 and reduce global warming pollution by 223 million metric tons a year. Travis Madsen, who participates in a think tank for Environmental California, said a national goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 is attainable.
“If the bill passes, there are definitely the resources to get it done,” Madsen said, adding that power companies will either provide the renewable energy or pay penalties. “Their accountants are going to make them provide the energy.”