EXTRA...

Democrats outline goal to reduce Greenhouse Gasses

Seek to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports 40% in 13 years
ISO New England says region needs 12% more power in the next 7 years

WASHINGTON: - Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee outlined goals Monday to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports 40 percent by 2020.

All 12 Democrats on that senate committe agree to the goals which come amid renewed debate over energy independence and global warming. Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman D-PA on right told reporters yesterday that there is no timeline for legislation, but he is floating a draft bill among his colleagues that would create a mandatory cap-and-trade program to limit and regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

Polluters -- like coal-burning power plants, for example -- would be given permits. Businesses could buy and sell permits if they were over or under the limit established by the government.  Greenhouse-gas emissions are believed by many scientists to trap heat in the atmosphere and change weather and crop production in negative ways.

Want 15% of nation's electricity renewable by 2020

Committee Democrats are advocating that 15% of the nation's electricity be derived from renewable sources -- including solar, geothermal and wind -- by 2020.  Bingaman said new technology and state actions call for lawmakers to approve the requirement. "Virtually all of the states are more ambitious than even the 15%," he said at a press conference with his fellow Democrats.  The plan also would require the federal government to reduce its oil consumption by 40% and to purchase 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Recently ISO New England which manages this region's grid said we must have 12% more poer by 2013 to prevent bown-outs and/or black-outs. The six state's present capacity must increse from 30,000 mega watts to 34,000, but the increse must occure continuously over the next seven years.

Democrats would extend renewable energy tax credits for a decade

Democrats also want to extend for another 10 years tax credits for renewable energy, biofuels and fuel-efficient vehicles that Congress has extended annually. "Let's tell investors this is the commitment we're making on renewable energy," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Bingaman has been drafting a global warming bill and has picked up Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania as a co-sponsor.  Bingaman also wants to amend a bill passed by the House last week that would spend an estimated $14 billion for renewable energy and efficiency programs. Part of that money would come from forcing companies to renegotiate oil and gas leases that did not require companies to pay royalties.

Companies would have to pay a fee or be banned from future leases if they do not renegotiate those 1998 and 1999 leases, see recent story here.  Leave a comment
_____________________________

U.S. Wind Power Forecast to Rise 26% in 2007
Capacity grew 27% last year

Wind power generating capacity increased by 27% in 2006 and is expected to increase an additional 26% in 2007, proving wind is now a mainstream option for new power generation, according to a market forecast released today by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Wind’s exponential growth reflects the nation’s increasing demand for clean, safe and domestic energy, and continues to attract both private and public sources of capital.

“iPods, flat screen televisions and other highly sought technologies are creating a demand for electricity that is beginning to eclipse our current supply. Wind is a proven, cost-effective source of energy that also alleviates global warming and enhances our nation’s energy security,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher.

The U.S. wind energy industry installed 2,454 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in 2006, an investment of approximately $4 billion, billing wind as one of the largest sources of new power generation in the country – second only to natural gas – for the second year in a row. New wind farms boosted cumulative U.S. installed wind energy capacity by 27% to 11,603 MW, well above the 10,000-MW milestone reached in August 2006. One megawatt of wind power produces enough electricity to serve 250 to 300 homes on average each day.

Wind energy facilities currently installed in the U.S. will produce an estimated 31 billion kilowatt-hours annually or enough electricity to serve 2.9 million American homes. This 100% clean source of electricity will displace approximately 23 million tons of carbon dioxide – the leading greenhouse gas – each year, which would otherwise be emitted by coal, natural gas, oil and other traditional energy sources.

Wind power has also attracted the support of state and federal government legislatures. The U.S. Congress recently extended the federal production tax credit (PTC) through December 2008 to further expand the number of wind farms throughout the U.S. Based on the success of the PTC to date, AWEA is calling for extending the provision an additional five years.

“The industry has demonstrated a generous return on the investment of both private and public investment in wind,” said Swisher. “Extending the PTC five years will significantly increase the progress America is making in expanding its use of new forms of energy when they’ve never been needed more.”

The industry outlook also finds:

• Texas accounted for nearly a third of the new wind power installed in 2006, taking over the lead from California in cumulative installed capacity. Texas hosts the world’s single largest operating wind farm, the 735-MW Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, located in Nolan and Taylor counties.

• Much of the new wind equipment in 2006 was produced in new manufacturing facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Additional announcements are expected in 2007. Investment in manufacturing capability signals confidence in the market and lays the groundwork for expanded growth.

• New utility-scale turbines were installed in a total of 20 states across the country, from Maine to New Mexico to Alaska.

• The top five states in new installations were Texas (774 MW), Washington (428 MW), California (212 MW), New York (185 MW) and Minnesota (150 MW).

AWEA gathers the data for its analysis each January by contacting wind farm developers and turbine manufacturers around the country.

Confessions of a Cape Cod John Bircher
Living Conservatively on a lake a half century ago

The sons of Robert Welch provide a glimpse of what life was like in the household of the man who started the John Birch Society.  In the pages that follow (in the link below), John Birch Society president John F. McManus interviews Hillard W. Welch and Robert H.W. Welch III, the two sons of the late Robert Welch who founded the John Birch Society in 1958 and led it for the next 25 years.

Hillard Welch, whose interview appears below, was named for a friend of his father, a man Robert Welch came to know as his classmate at the Naval Academy. Known to his friends as "Hid," he and his wife of 50 years, Joyce, live on a lake on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Hid is an active member of the John Birch Society... Read the rest of the New American interview here.