Energy fixes come to fore at Statehouse

BYLINE: Jeff Bell

Henry Cialone hopes to see a day when windmills on Lake Erie produce enough electricity to light every house in Ohio and companies in the state are leaders in fuel-cell and advanced ethanol production.

But state officials need to craft a policy on alternative energy development if a dream like that can become reality, said the CEO of the Edison Welding Institute in Columbus. Without a policy, Cialone said, Ohio will struggle to realize its sizable potential in wind and hydro power, fuel cells, biofuels, clean-coal technology and next-generation nuclear power as the nation looks to stem global warming and its reliance on unstable foreign oil sources.

Cialone and alternative energy proponents may soon get their wish.

The fledgling Alternative Energy Committee in the Ohio House has started work on language for a comprehensive alternative energy bill. Legislation could be introduced as early as June and approved by the end of the year, said state Rep. Jim McGregor, R-Gahanna, the committee's chairman.

"We have a rich and abundant reservoir of (energy) resources and talent in this state," he said. "I think there is a willingness to get this done."

Bipartisan support

One sign of that willingness, McGregor said, was the decision by House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, to establish the Alternative Energy Committee at the start of this year's legislative session.

Committee members have heard testimony in recent weeks from various players on the advanced energy front - utilities, energy producers, manufacturers, farm groups and scientists.

Another signal is the attention Gov. Ted Strickland is paying to energy issues. His actions during his first four months in office have included naming Mark Shanahan, executive director of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, as his energy adviser, ordering energy audits on all state facilities, and increasing state vehicles using alternative fuels.

Strickland also earmarked in his two-year state budget proposal $250 million a year for advanced energy projects. In addition, he made renewable energy consumption part of the Energy Compact he proposed May 1.

It all looks promising to Cialone, who headed Battelle Memorial Institute's commercial energy business before being named CEO at Edison Welding in 2005. About 30 percent of Edison's business is with the energy industry.

"I've seen fads come and go," he said, "but this doesn't look like a fad. It's serious, bipartisan and not just a few guys trying to save the world. There is a lot of self-interest, and enlightened self-interest is what will take us there."

Appearing April 25 before the House's Alternative Energy Committee, Cialone told state officials they must remove administrative and regulatory barriers that can slow advanced energy development.

He also recommended the state adequately fund engineering and manufacturing research on advanced energy projects and help reduce some of the risks in the early stages of project development.

In addition, Cialone said Ohio has three highly promising advanced energy areas - wind power on Lake Erie, Ohio-made fuel cells and cellulosic ethanol production from materials such as forest and landfill waste, harvested corn stalks and other farm byproducts.

"We've got the companies and work force that can deliver on a lot of stuff," he said. "It just has not coalesced yet."

Job growth potential

Cialone said he expects much of the discussion at the Statehouse to be on the potential for job creation that advanced energy projects have for Ohio manufacturers.

For example, alternative energy proponents often cite a 2005 study by the Washington, D.C.-based Renewable Energy Policy Project. It found a national expansion of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass projects could create nearly 23,000 jobs in Ohio and spur $3.6 billion of investment in components made by manufacturers in the state.

Shanahan said Ohio offers a mixed picture in development of advanced energy sources.

"In some ways," he said, "we are behind the curve because we have not had a coordinated and focused policy on alternative energy. But there also are an enormous number of companies here that make components for advanced energy technologies."

Strickland wants any energy policy emerging from the legislature to include clean-coal technologies and not just renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, Shanahan said .

"Ohio gets 88 percent of its electricity from coal," he said. "There's no way that can change quickly."

McGregor expects the House bill will be a "wheel with many spokes to deal with all energy issues." That covers everything from aiding the development of wind power to addressing electric utility regulations that make it too expensive for industries to use and distribute energy from sources such as steam generated by their plants.