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Hold Utilities Accountable by Robert Pregulman Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 8, 2001

Washington citizens and businesses are now paying the price for 20 years of negligence by the state's utilities and decision makers to develop a long-term plan to provide the state with clean, renewable, reliable and affordable sources of energy.

The combination of the energy crisis in California and the drought has left utilities unable to supply the cheap power we have come to expect and, as a result, we can all expect our power bills to continue to rise sharply for the next several months. However, this crisis may have a silver lining: By highlighting the weaknesses in our current energy policy, it presents us with an opportunity to change the way we think about producing power.

Unfortunately, the gravity of this crisis has led to proposal of quick-fix solutions that are merely Band-Aids over the gaping holes in our energy policy. For instance, some people think that the answer to our energy crisis is simply to build more power plants. In fact, 14 natural-gas power plants have been permitted or have permits pending in Washington.

While natural gas is cleaner than coal and we may in fact need more natural-gas plants to produce energy, we should not bet the farm on it. Producing energy with natural gas does damage the environment because it emits carbon dioxide, which is the primary greenhouse gas. For example, if the proposed Sumas Energy 2 plant near Bellingham were built, it would emit as much carbon dioxide as 400,000 cars. Furthermore, natural gas is not a renewable resource, so its cost would be dictated by the vulnerabilities of the market place, and we have all seen what the market can do over the past few weeks.

Another dubious quick fix is diesel generators. Gov. Gary Locke recently eased air-pollution regulations to allow utilities and industry to generate more power. While diesel power may be appropriate in very specific, isolated cases, diesel emissions are particularly dangerous because they contain more than 40 substances that are considered toxic. More than 30 epidemiological studies have linked diesel exhaust to cancer.

If we are to ensure that we have adequate supplies of cheap energy in Washington, we must tap into clean, renewable resources. Locke has announced his plan to address Washington's energy problems by requiring utilities to generate 10 percent of their power with renewable resources by 2011.

While this plan is a good first step, it contains nothing that will hold utilities accountable to meet this goal. As industries have done little to invest in renewable energy sources up to the present, how can we expect them to do it voluntarily now?

Renewable energy such as solar and wind are key to solving our energy problems, as they are available in unlimited supplies and do not harm the environment. Therefore, we cannot afford a haphazard plan that does not require utilities to make investments in these technologies. Any energy policy we adopt must hold utilities accountable investing in renewable energy sources.

Another weakness in the governor's plan is that it does not require utilities to invest in conservation. This might be acceptable if Washington utilities had good records for promoting conservation, but from 1993-1997, investments by Washington utilities in making our homes and businesses more energy-efficient fell by 75 percent. Currently, 19 states, including Oregon and Montana, require utilities to invest up to 3 percent of their revenues in energy conservation. Washington should do the same.

The governor's plan also falls short in the amount of money it allocates to help low-income citizens pay their skyrocketing utility bills and weatherize their homes, setting aside only $1.25 million for the next two years in bill payment assistance to the poor.

However, according to the Northwest Energy Coalition, this would cover only a small fraction of the people who need this support. In addition, the governor's plan has no provisions that provide financial help for weatherization of low-income homes, despite the fact that 290,000 low-income households in the state need weatherization. Making homes more energy-efficient doesn't just help poor families reduce their power bills; it also reduces their use of power, which makes energy more affordable and available for all of us.

While the governor's plan contains many good ideas, such as eliminating the sales tax on energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances, it does not do enough to require utilities to do their part. We cannot balance the solution to our energy woes on the backs of the public, especially those who can least afford it.

Locke must use this crisis as an opportunity to develop a bold, visionary plan to address our short-term and long-term energy problems by requiring utilities to step up to the plate and invest in clean, renewable, sustainable, efficient sources of energy.

If he does not seize this opportunity, our energy problems with stay with us for years to come.