N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

June 21, 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Greetings from the North Carolina Senate,

This newsletter will focus on environmental activity in the legislature this session. Many bills were introduced, but most have not been passed as of this letter.

Last term, I voted against Senate Bill 3 that required utilities to produce 7% - 14% of their energy from alternative sources, including energy efficiency and Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (REPS). Why? While I agreed this was a big step forward, there was a Trojan Horse in the bill: nuclear power plants. And this week, the camel (to mix metaphors) stuck his nose under the tent. The power companies are asking the legislature to charge customers up front, on their monthly bills, to pay for the planning of a nuclear power plant in South Carolina that will cost $11 billion. Of course we all know the overruns will be even more expensive. In other words, the rate payer is the investor, not the stock-holder. The customer payment plan is called CWIP. Cost while in progress or customer-subsidized construction. When asked how much the monthly cost would be to a customer, the answer was 18 cents in the beginning and $24 by the end of the pay-off.

In the meantime, most experts agree that the future is in distributive power, not centralized, like a nuclear power plant. Solar, wind and perhaps bio-mass (although pollution questions linger for that solution.) We heard a presentation at the Energy Policy Council that China and Europe are leading the way in green technology. The cost of solar is dropping rapidly and will be competitive with coal and nuclear in the future. So why not allow subsidies for solar and wind, rather than nuclear? Wind energy is now slowed and perhaps stopped by the federal permitting process.

It is time to fix our antiquated laws (and maybe our democracy in the case of China) and lack of vision that have stunted leadership.

Sadly, North Carolina is falling behind. This is because the way our utilities regulation is set up, it discourages energy efficiency and distributive energy supplies. The utilities make money for the stock holders by profiting from the sale of energy, electricity and gas. Thus there is no incentive to encourage customers to use less electricity. Until we "decouple" the sale of electricity from customer usage, we will not solve the energy overuse problem. (But of course, each of us is responsible for a large measure by our greatly increased use of electronics. For instance, we know that turning off the computer when not in use and unplugging chargers would yield a huge savings in electricity use.) That is, we will have to pay up front the utilities for their lost sales of electricity to make the system work. So far, the utilities’ solutions are minuscule compared to what they could be if we allowed decoupling.

On the local front, Carrboro is allowed to tell developers that they cannot prohibit energy and water saving measures, such as clotheslines, rain barrels, solar panels and garden fences. Both Chapel Hill and Carrboro, along with a number of other cities are exempted from competitive bidding requirements in contracts for pilot programs to increase energy efficiency. Chapel Hill can also enter into a property lease for citing a renewable energy facility if this bill is passed. More and more of these leased roof-tops are providing solar energy throughout the state. Ideally, every roof could be mounted with solar panels. Camp LeJeune has installed solar panels that will serve 40,000 homes. Raleigh has panels on its waste-water plant.

Many more bills were introduced and are hanging: Renewable Energy Manufacturing and other tax credits, 2050 Sustainability Task Force, energy efficiency allowed to count for part of the utilities’ REPS, Invest in Green Jobs, several tasks forces to study upping government alternative energy use, biofuels, incentives for using green energy, studies on climate change, programs that impact the environment and carbon offset and sequestration opportunities. Last term, one important bill that I sponsored would prohibit mountain top removal as it relates to coal purchases. This year, I sponsored a bill to set standards for coal-ash structural fill permits. Last year a detention pond filled with coal-ash slurry broke and destroyed a town and large areas in the mountains.

We tried to add a consumer advocate to the Energy Policy Council, but the Council rejected that because they thought it would open up to others wanting a seat on the Council (not a bad idea.)

The one bill that might go through is to change the North Carolina Building Codes to require energy efficiency in all new construction.

An exiting bill was introduced in the House that would require the Treasurer to divest our Retirement fund of any stock in Massey Coal Company. Following the coal mine disaster that killed 29 miners, the Treasurer and several other state treasurers wrote to Massey asking that they not reappoint the Board members up for election that took no responsibility for the many safety violations and the final disaster. Their total investment was $64 million, ours is $10 million. When Massey refused, this bill was introduced to require the Treasurer to do so.

While it was not a productive session for the environment, through the excellent leadership of representatives such as Rep. Pricey Harrison, attitudes are slowly changing as more pressure is put on the legislature to act "green" for the health and well-being of our citizens.

Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • Campaign Address: PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-918-3432
Legislative Office Address: Room 628 LOB, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603 •