How many environmentalists does it take to change American energy policy?
On June 27, thirty-six environmental organizations representing more than 1.1 million combined members presented the “American Clean Energy Agenda” calling for a cleaner energy future without fossil fuels.
Without providing the specifics, the agenda declares itself a “grassroots-driven” call to action to agree on and push nine basic principles. Phasing out nuclear power, natural gas, and coal in favor of renewable, non-polluting resources by 2030; exposing “the entrenched dirty energy industry’s public relations machine;” and describing the government’s current spending on energy programs “counter to the public interest” are the boldest on the list.
A statement from one of the organizers, the Civil Society Institute, says that the group is pushing the agenda “no matter who is the next President or which party controls Congress.” Though President Obama is considered to be the more renewables-friendly of the two candidates, the group rejects his “all of the above” approach, calling it “no roadmap to a clean, sustainable future.”
The Agenda’s unveiling did not garner much media attention, but one news outlet did notice it. In a column entitled, “End the Mindless Pursuit of ‘At-Any-Cost’ Renewables,” by Marita Noon at the Energy Tribune called the effort “folly,” predicting it would have “virtually no impact.” Taking issue with the CSI-commissioned poll showing that the large majority of Americans support a clean energy future, Noon relies on an unnamed “Texas power industry executive” to make the argument that Texas’ wind turbines are responsible for the state’s recent power shortages and uses the struggling German efforts to contend that a nuclear phase out in the U.S. would actually lead to more fossil fuel use. Her support for dirty energy is apparently based in her repeated allegations that fossil fuels are necessary to keep people employed and energy prices low.
Though Noon has a few fair points – most notably that fossil fuels are often behind the production and transportation of “green” technology – her full-fledged support for oil, coal, and natural gas and total opposition to anything sustainable reeks of outside interests. Notably, Noon is also the Executive Director of the Citizen’s Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE) – the same Big Energy-backed group currently launching an assault on Michigan’s clean energy ballot initiative.
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