Summary

Thanks to support from our members and activists, the Union of Concerned Scientists secured several important clean energy victories in 2004.  Despite the challenging political climate, we won a precedent setting clean energy ballot initiative in Colorado, stalled a dangerous national energy bill, extended the renewable energy production tax credit, and restored important renewable energy and efficiency funding.  With your help we will build on these on these successes in 2005, forwarding federal policies like the renewable electricity standard and production tax credit while leveraging the Colorado victory to pass more state-level clean energy initiatives.

Colorado Renewable Electricity Standard

In a tremendous Election Day victory for clean energy supporters across the country, Colorado voters approved a precedent-setting renewable electricity standard (RES) ballot initiative by a 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent margin.  The ballot initiative, Amendment #37, the first ever-state ballot initiative for renewable energy, requires that 10 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2015.  Passage of Amendment #37 demonstrates that the public will support policies that promote renewable energy development even when faced with well-funded opposition from the utility and coal industries.

UCS played a key role in this campaign by contributing significant funding and staff time, engaging our members and activists across the country, and mobilizing other national groups. A special thanks to those of you who responded to our fundraising appeals, helping UCS contribute over $120,000 towards coalition ads and telephone appeals to voters.  We also provided an analysis outlining the consumer savings, jobs,and rural economic development that will result from the Colorado RES.  Visits to Colorado reporters and editors by UCS President Kevin Knobloch, Research Analyst Jeff Deyette and Field Coordinator Kate Abend helped generate positive media coverage of the UCS analysis, warning voters about the deluge of misinformation in the oppositions’ paid ads.

The victory in conservative, coal-dominated Colorado could open the door for legislative and ballot initiative RES campaigns in other states.  Of the 20 states with a viable initiative process, 15 still do not have an RES.  The initiative also lent momentum to a federal RES campaign by signaling to our leaders in Washington that given the opportunity, voters will support renewable energy.  For example, Colorado Senator-elect Ken Salazar (D-CO) strongly supported the ballot initiative.

Read the UCS Colorado RES analysis.

Read the UCS news release following the Colorado RES victory.

Production Tax Credit extension and expansion

Congress has restored the vitally important federal renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind and biomass energy, and expanded the credit to new sources. The PTC expired at the end of 2003, eliminating 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour credit for electricity produced from wind; closed-loop biomass and poultry waste and caused a dramatic slow down in wind projects around the country. Throughout 2004, efforts to extend and expand the PTC were held hostage to an expensive and polluting energy bill that ultimately died in the U.S. Senate.  However, UCS, working with our allies in the renewables industry, helped to extract the needed tax incentives language from the stalled bill and insert them in a must-pass piece of legislation relating to foreign trade (HR 4520).

The bill, which President Bush signed into law on October 22, 2004, includes only a one-year PTC extension and expands the eligible electricity resources to include geothermal energy, solar energy, open-loop biomass, small irrigation power, as well as municipal solid waste.  The wind industry estimates that during 2005 alone, the extension will generate between $2-3 billion in new investments.

Unfortunately, the one-year extension limits the ability of renewable energy developers to commit to new project beyond the end of 2005.  UCS will continue to work toward securing a longer extension of this important policy.

Congress fails to revive dangerous energy bill—for now 

America needs an energy policy that increases our energy security and protects the environment. Unfortunately, the energy bill crafted by congressional leaders last year (HR 6) took us backward by opening our public lands to oil and gas drilling, funneling billions of dollars in taxpayer money to polluting industries, and rolling back key protections in the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The bill also failed to include clean energy solutions such as a renewable electricity standard (RES) requiring utilities to generate 10 percent of our nation's electricity from clean, renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and bioenergy by 2020. Ultimately, the Senate refused to accept many of the provisions insisted upon by the House leadership and the bill died in the Senate. 

In the wake of the November elections, however, Congressional leaders are vowing to bring the energy bill back next year—and push again for industry provisions that were defeated, like opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.
UCS will continue to oppose attempts to revive this flawed bill and advocate for clean energy solutions like the RES to improve our energy security, protect public health, and save consumers money.

Restoring Farm Bill funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency

The Bush administration’s budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2005 proposed slashing more than half of the $23 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency funding that Congress included in Section 9006 of the 2002 Farm Bill.

This small but tremendously popular program provides direct grants to rural communities to install energy efficiency and renewable energy.  For example, in 2004, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $22.8 million to 167 recipients in 27 states for a variety of projects.  This success follows on a successful year in 2003, when the USDA Section 9006 grants to 113 projects leveraged well over $100 million in total investments.  We expect the 2004 funding to leverage significant additional investment as well.
 
UCS worked with coalition partners to successfully restore the FY05 clean energy funding. An amendment offered by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) to restore full funding received so much support that it was accepted by voice vote on the House floor.  While full funding was included in the FY05 omnibus funding bill, provisions requiring the funding, contained in the original Farm bill, were stripped out.  UCS will continue working to ensure full funding for the program in the 2005 congressional appropriations process.

Learn more about the Section 9006 funding.

Hydrogen dominates energy funding for FY05

The Omnibus Appropriations bill slated to become law in early December (H. Rept. 108-792, HR 4818) features slight increases for the programs in the Department of Energy Renewable Energy Programs for the FY05 fiscal year that started in October–with the largest share of increases going to the Department’s hydrogen R&D program.  Overall, funding for DOE’s renewable and energy efficient account—including hydrogen funding—increased by over $31 million over last year’s level, a boost of 8.8 percent.   For hydrogen alone, the FY05 level of $95.3 million was level with the President’s request, but represented a boost of more than 16 percent from last year’s funding.

Other renewable technologies enjoyed more moderate increases.  For example, biomass and solar had increases of 12.7 percent and 8 percent respectively over their previous years’ funding.  The wind budget of $41.6 million and geothermal budget of $25.8 million remained about the same as both last year’s levels and the President’s request.  On the other hand, funding for hydropower projects was cut about $1 million–about a 20 percent reduction from last year’s funding.

While the renewables industry was relieved that the feared cuts did not materialize, they worried that funding levels still remain far below what is really needed to spur the research needed to move the industry forward.  Several groups have now called for a wholesale doubling of the renewables energy efficiency account within five years.

To learn more information about renewable energy funding, visit:
http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSReports/04Sep/IB10041.pdf