Arizona Renewable Energy Standard Under Attack From Right

February 6th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

In 24 states; the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) has driven what clean new energy the US has.

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In the absence of such legislation The Invisible Hand has tended to find that utilities should just continue to source their electricity from traditional sources, with the result that states that do not have an RES have the unhealthiest electricity in the nation.

Arizona was one of the healthy energy states, with a requirement for 15% renewable energy by 2025. But now a Republican state representative in the Arizona state legislature is challenging the right of the Arizona Corporation Commission to set a requirement that utilities add more renewable energy, with a bill that would strip them of the responsibility.

The ACC passed its RES for Arizona in 2006, setting a target for utilities to get 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025.

In Arizona, as in most states, the electric utilities have long been regulated at the state level by public commissions that are semi-governmental bodies; originally set up to oversee the public interest in common goods like water and electricity, back in the days when the legislature was more able to protect the American people from the robber barons of the day.

The legislation the state lawmaker Carl Seel introduced is the next step in an anti-renewable energy campaign mounted by the conservative think tank; the Goldwater Institute, on behalf of several customers of the state’s largest utility, and is aimed at overturning the ruling on renewable energy.

Originally, the Goldwater Institute filed suit after the RES was made law. The lawsuit questioned the constitutionality of forcing electric utilities like the Arizona Public Service Co to meet certain levels of renewable energy in their portfolio or to levy a tariff through customer bills to help pay for it. For example, recently the ACC allowed a $1 charge to be added to bills averaging $77 a month, for new wind farms. The judge ruled against them.

The Arizona Supreme Court sided with the ACC and its right to regulate utilities “in the absence of any legislation” that would challenge that right.

Now, the Republican congressman for Phoenix has come up with precisely such legislation: challenging and removing that right of the ACC to mandate renewable energy standards, with House Bill 2381.

Theoretically, the institute, named after conservative icon Barry Goldwater would litigate any government management of the economy. However, the group has notably mounted no lawsuits regarding other ACC-imposed tariffs, for example, when they pay for new nuclear, natural gas or coal plants.

Image: Atlantic

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Tags: 15% by 2025, conservative groups, invisible hand, Kraemer, marine life flourishing off shore wind turbines, overturning progressive legislation, Republican position on renewable energy, state RES

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

@Andrew “The invisible hand is not what is at work when fossil interests hawk their energy to utilities. their prices are kept low by the same subsidies those same groups are trying to prevent their competitors from instituting.

Furthermore, their prices are artificially deflated by the lack of ownership of public resources which make negative externalities free for the producers.”

Very good point. True.

I was getting at something different: that because the cost of climate change will not be catastrophic till too late to fix it, the invisible hand does not work in this case, without a price on carbon now.

On the contrary, it naturally selects the cheapest energy, and energy infrastructure that is already paid for is cheaper than building new energy. And pipelines, railroads, coal mines, coal power stations are what’s already in place, not wind and solar farms and transmission.

“Why is it necessary to even say whether the instigators of such and such an act are republican or not?”

Because that is the job of the Fourth Estate.
http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

@Andrew “The invisible hand is not what is at work when fossil interests hawk their energy to utilities. their prices are kept low by the same subsidies those same groups are trying to prevent their competitors from instituting.

Furthermore, their prices are artificially deflated by the lack of ownership of public resources which make negative externalities free for the producers.”

Very good point. True.

I was getting at something different: that because the cost of climate change will not be catastrophic till too late to fix it, the invisible hand does not work in this case, without a price on carbon now.

On the contrary, it naturally selects the cheapest energy, and energy infrastructure that is already paid for is cheaper than building new energy. And pipelines, railroads, coal mines, coal power stations are what’s already in place, not wind and solar farms and transmission.

“Why is it necessary to even say whether the instigators of such and such an act are republican or not?”

Because that is the job of the Fourth Estate.
Karl

The Glenn Beck crowd strikes again!
Karl

The Glenn Beck crowd strikes again!
Andrew

Wow, these are some vehement comments. In general, I don’t think “shut the fuck up” is very constructive.

In any case, I like to be notified when there are inconsistencies in regulatory bodies and when someone is stepping in to rig the system for a special interest group, be they right or left. Although, one marked difference between the right and left is the willingness of the left to publicize their proposals and attempt to support them with measurements usually taken by third parties. None are completely honest in trying to bring about the change they want, and nothing will change until our congress can be fixed, of course. Until we can separate campaign finance from holding office, and perhaps even make holding office unprofitable (gasp!), nothing is going to change.

Nevertheless, I do have one qualm with the article. Maybe you meant it facetiously, but the comment about the invisible hand is a little off. The invisible hand is not what is at work when fossil interests hawk their energy to utilities. their prices are kept low by the same subsidies those same groups are trying to prevent their competitors from instituting. Furthermore, their prices are artificially deflated by the lack of ownership of public resources which make negative externalities free for the producers.

The invisible hand is the only force at work for the free and honest exchange of value between willing citizens of a democratic polity. That’s all free-market economics is, a perfect-information strategy game of the maximization of value. Regulations and advertising disrupt the exchange of information between parties, making a free and honest exchange of value impossible. What we’re dealing with now are just symptoms of a greater systematic failure, software bugs, if you will. You don’t fix a bug by writing code to hide or patch the bug (like microsoft), you look at the existing system to find out how the system is broken, and then fix it.

I think if anything is shown by the awful comments this pot has received, it’s that focusing on the left or right and blaming an entire group of people while naming them with an identity symbol, is apt to alienate readers that would otherwise have appreciated the heads up. Why is it necessary to even say whether the instigators of such and such an act are republican or not? Someone is fucking with the system, and a corporation is paying them. I bet the corporation isn’t a republican.
Andrew

Wow, these are some vehement comments. In general, I don’t think “shut the fuck up” is very constructive.

In any case, I like to be notified when there are inconsistencies in regulatory bodies and when someone is stepping in to rig the system for a special interest group, be they right or left. Although, one marked difference between the right and left is the willingness of the left to publicize their proposals and attempt to support them with measurements usually taken by third parties. None are completely honest in trying to bring about the change they want, and nothing will change until our congress can be fixed, of course. Until we can separate campaign finance from holding office, and perhaps even make holding office unprofitable (gasp!), nothing is going to change.

Nevertheless, I do have one qualm with the article. Maybe you meant it facetiously, but the comment about the invisible hand is a little off. The invisible hand is not what is at work when fossil interests hawk their energy to utilities. their prices are kept low by the same subsidies those same groups are trying to prevent their competitors from instituting. Furthermore, their prices are artificially deflated by the lack of ownership of public resources which make negative externalities free for the producers.

The invisible hand is the only force at work for the free and honest exchange of value between willing citizens of a democratic polity. That’s all free-market economics is, a perfect-information strategy game of the maximization of value. Regulations and advertising disrupt the exchange of information between parties, making a free and honest exchange of value impossible. What we’re dealing with now are just symptoms of a greater systematic failure, software bugs, if you will. You don’t fix a bug by writing code to hide or patch the bug (like microsoft), you look at the existing system to find out how the system is broken, and then fix it.

I think if anything is shown by the awful comments this pot has received, it’s that focusing on the left or right and blaming an entire group of people while naming them with an identity symbol, is apt to alienate readers that would otherwise have appreciated the heads up. Why is it necessary to even say whether the instigators of such and such an act are republican or not? Someone is fucking with the system, and a corporation is paying them. I bet the corporation isn’t a republican.
http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

Well, let’s not call it ‘by the Right’, call it ‘by Republicans’ then. A Republican lawmaker is doing the bidding of a Republican thinktank based on a Republican Icon (Barry Goldwater(R))
http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

Well, let’s not call it ‘by the Right’, call it ‘by Republicans’ then. A Republican lawmaker is doing the bidding of a Republican thinktank based on a Republican Icon (Barry Goldwater(R))
J

Oh, the RIGHT !

The bad evil right! THE BOOGIE MAN right !

“The right” is against us and everything good in America.

If only “the right” were sent to King Hussein’s FEMA concentration camps would everything be good and wonderful ! ! ! ! !

Get the right, kill the right

Down with the right! The right equals hitler!

Anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with you 100% is “THE RIGHT” !

Beware of “THE R I G H T”, it is everywhere….oooooooooo!
J

Oh, the RIGHT !

The bad evil right! THE BOOGIE MAN right !

“The right” is against us and everything good in America.

If only “the right” were sent to King Hussein’s FEMA concentration camps would everything be good and wonderful ! ! ! ! !

Get the right, kill the right

Down with the right! The right equals hitler!

Anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with you 100% is “THE RIGHT” !

Beware of “THE R I G H T”, it is everywhere….oooooooooo!
Lakolo

One comment! Shut the fuck up greens and give me proof of what your on about.

Untill then! Shut The Fuck Up!!!
Lakolo

One comment! Shut the fuck up greens and give me proof of what your on about.

Untill then! Shut The Fuck Up!!!