Wind energy would be a boon to Ohio economy, report says

DATELINE: COLUMBUS Ohio

Ohio can revive its sinking manufacturing industry and decrease its dependence on coal if the state requires a portion of electricity to be produced from renewable energy sources such as wind, said a report released Thursday.

The report by the nonprofit group Environment Ohio calls on Gov. Ted Strickland and state lawmakers to bring a state awash in carbon-emitting coal into a growing U.S. and world competition to attract new energy technologies.

Environmental advocates, labor representatives and renewable energy business leaders said Ohio cannot afford to continue falling behind in a movement that has seen 25 states enact a requirement for the use of such technologies to produce electricity. Illinois, for example, recently passed a standard requiring 25 percent of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025.

"Ohio is sitting on the sidelines," said Amy Gomberg, environmental advocate for Environment Ohio.

Ohio ranks fourth in the nation in the amount of carbon dioxide pollution which the vast majority of scientists say is the primary cause of man-made global warming. Using wind to supply 20 percent of Ohio's electricity by 2020 would create a net total of 3,100 permanent full-time jobs and reduce carbon emissions as much as taking 2 million cars off the road, according to the report.

Strickland, a Democrat, will soon release a wide-ranging energy plan that will update a 1999 law that made changes to the power industry. He views requirements for renewable energy as inseparable from a comprehensive change in energy laws, said his energy adviser, Mark Shanahan.

But some in the Republican-controlled Legislature, as well as certain heavy lobbying groups such as the Ohio Manufacturers Association, believe alternative energy should be a separate issue from the pressing challenge of reforming the electricity industry before it becomes deregulated on Jan. 1, 2009.

"When it comes to current electric issues, it's complicated enough that adding other issues to this debate can only muddy the waters," said Rep. John Hagan, an Alliance Republican who chairs the House Public Utilities Committee.

Advocates for renewable energy hope the environmental and economic benefits of energy from wind, sun and biofuels such as ethanol will attract lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in a state that has lost a quarter of its manufacturing jobs since 2000.

"We believe this to be a great opportunity to put politics aside, not only to address electric restructuring and regulation but also advanced energy," said Tim Burga, chief of staff for the Ohio AFL-CIO.

The state gets 87 percent of its electricity from burning coal, and imports 60 percent of its power plant fuel supplies from outside the state, the report said.

All sides acknowledge that the state will continue to use coal, but they argue that the state's energy supplies need to be drastically diversified.

"In a state that's 90 percent dependent on coal it's going to take a long time to decrease our dependence on coal," Shanahan said Wednesday.

Should the Democratic-controlled Congress impose a cap or tax on carbon emissions, a coal-intensive state such as Ohio would be further buried economically. Instead, by moving forward to get 20 percent of its electricity from wind energy by 2020, Ohio could increase its gross state product by $8.2 billion, the report said.

Geoff Greenfield, president of Third Sun Solar and Wind Power Ltd. in Athens, summed up the viewpoint of companies involved in alternative energies who have flocked to other states.

"When Ohio has an RPS (renewable requirement) and state incentives on par with these other ones, you'll be a viable project, but until then I'm going to go where these projects are more economically viable," he said.

While the idea of a renewable standard has been catching on in Ohio, there are still disagreements.

Strickland will likely propose an energy standard that includes nuclear power and clean coal technologies, which lessen pollutants and could eventually trap carbon emissions. Environmentalists, however, view nuclear power as fraught with environmental dangers and believe including non-renewable energies in the standard will detract from renewables.