Reprinted in full from the KCStar:
AS I SEE IT: Kansas must use its wealth of renewable resources
By Scott Allegrucci
The days of burning coal to produce most of our electricity are numbered. There are many reasons. Take climate change off the table.
Direct cost. Based upon worldwide supply and demand, the cost of coal delivered to Kansas utilities increased 25 percent from 2007 to 2008. That trend continues, with impacts on our bills.
Fuel prices. Kansas uses 19 million tons of coal every year — that’s 1,000 coal trains, almost all from Wyoming. The costs of transporting all that coal are soaring, and showing up on our electric bills.
Construction costs. Plants are getting more expensive to build as commodity costs soar, by more than 25 percent in 2007 alone. Cost overruns on new construction will continue, driving bills higher.
Water. More than 13.2 billion gallons of fresh water are converted to steam every day to make electricity from coal in the United States. This use of a vital resource may increasingly be a bad bargain.
But as we phase out 19th century coal technology, we phase in a host of 21st century technologies such as wind, solar, methane and cellulosic ethanol. The benefits include:
•Fuel sources that are abundant, local and free in Kansas.
•Energy from Kansas farms and ranches, paying revenue directly to those families.
•Electricity requiring no water to generate, and producing no air or water pollution.
We also phase in rural economic development.
Consider Nolan County, Texas: population 15,000. The county has 1,100 residents employed directly in the wind industry. Their total property tax base will swell to $2.4 billion in 2009, driven by renewable energy.
As a result, Nolan County is cutting taxes on businesses and residents.
Arkansas (the 27th windiest state) recently announced a 1,000-job turbine manufacturing plant.
Yet while other states prosper from clean energy, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce focuses its efforts on denying climate change and advocating for Wyoming coal. They may as well put a “Closed for Business” sign on Kansas.
Kansas is the third windiest state in the nation. Yet wind energy developers report that Kansas is one of the hardest states for them to do business in.
As a result of inaction by our legislature and inattention from our chamber, they are taking their business elsewhere.
What would it be like if the Kansas Legislature lived up to its obligations and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce lived up to its name? What if, rather than arguing with accepted science, they worked to get Kansas a fair share of the booming renewable energy economy using our own abundant resources and ingenuity?
Scott Allegrucci is director for the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy. He lives in Lawrence.
