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Climate Change Policy Can Affect Power Costs
For some time we have been focusing on energy policy and the effect certain legislation may have on you and your electric cooperative.
Congress and the federal government are working to prioritize climate change policy.Given the long list of environmental impacts and expensive solutions, any action taken to address the issue will certainly increase the cost of electricity we use everyday.
Climate change proposals are geared to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide.In the southeastern United States, many of our power plants burn fossil fuels such as coal for generation. Nationwide that works out to about 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year—with a high concentration of that output coming from our part of the country.
Electric cooperatives are involved in cutting edge work to develop new technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, but those options are not available yet.Also, these options are limited, largely untested and expensive. Yet potential legislation would rely on them to make significant carbon dioxide cuts nationwide.Under consideration is a proposal to impose a cap-and-trade tax to limit carbon emissions.
(Cap-and-trade systems work by setting a specific limit on airborne pollutants from sources like power plants, factories and refineries, and require those sources to account for all emissions with issued allowances.)Allowances would be auctioned off at undetermined prices, leading to huge cost burdens for any source of carbon dioxide emissions.In the case of power plants, those costs would ultimately be passed on to the consumers who use the power.
We need to help Congress draft an energy solution that accomplishes environmental goals while taking affordability into account.Electric cooperatives want to work with Congress to address climate change in an affordable and environmentally responsible fashion.We’re ready to provide insight into how various policy proposals will impact consumers—and urge lawmakers to reach the right answers.National energy and climate change policy must focus on reducing emissions, not on revenue enhancement for the federal government.
You can help by letting your legislators know your opinion on proposed energy policy. Go to www.findabalancedsolution.com or www.ourenergy.coop. |
