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Press Release: The League of United Latin American Citizens Calls on Congress to Ensure Balanced Renewable Energy Policies. Federal climate change legislation must take into account higher costs on consumers. June 8, 2009 For more information contact: The League of United Latin American Citizens sent a letter to Members of Congress last week regarding federal renewable energy standards in proposed climate change legislation. In the letter, Brent Wilkes, National Executive Director of LULAC urged Members of Congress to carefully consider the economic consequences of a federal RES, particularly on the Latino community, including higher energy costs. The full text of the letter is as follows: Dear Representative: Utility bills continue to be a heavy burden for millions of families across the United States. Unfortunately energy prices affect underprivileged families disproportionately. When considering measures to stimulate the production of renewable energy, Congress must avoid measures that would raise electric utility rates for low and moderate income Americans who are already overburdened by our economic recession. The League of United Latin American Citizens is concerned that some of the legislative proposals being debated in Congress with the goal of slowing climate change could dramatically increase the costs of a basic necessity for communities that can ill afford it. The intensely anticipated climate change legislation must be both responsible and comprehensive. Current proposals by Senator Bingaman, Representative Markey and Waxman call for a dramatic increase in renewable energy use. The Renewable Energy Standard (RES) proposed in this legislation would force electric companies in certain states where they can’t produce it on their own because of a simple lack of local resources, to effectively purchase renewable energy credits from other states. When these purchases occur, it will effectively cause electric companies to raise utility rates significantly in order to recover these added costs. “One size fits all” mandates like the proposed RES make it difficult to account for the regional differences that we know exist in resources across the country. Certain states would be less impacted based on their geographic position while others would suffer. Southwestern states can utilize wind and solar but those resources are not as viable in much of the rest of the U.S. and where they are available they are often unreliable. If the goal of the legislation is to truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean fuel sources such as nuclear energy and large scale hydroelectric should be considered in the climate legislation as they are a staple in many states and supply clean reliable energy. Because of our nation’s reliance on coal as a base energy source, clean coal technologies need to be encouraged as part of the legislation. It is currently omitted from the legislation being debated. Consumer protections such as “off ramps” or caps on price increases are absent from this legislation and need to be included as well. Bearing in mind that renewable energy is not America’s primary source of energy; replacing our traditionally utilized resources with emerging renewable technologies may take more time than envisioned in some of the proposals before Congress. Given that Europe has a significant lead on the United States in the development of clean energy, it should be noted that only France has been able to shift the majority of its energy supply to clean production and it has done so by focusing on nuclear production. Other European states that have focused on wind, solar and hydroelectric have not met their goals. The federal government ought to take into account the far-reaching impact that the Renewable Energy Standard will have on the Latino, low and moderate community if the targets in the standard prove difficult to meet especially if nuclear is left out of the standard. Please support legislation that balances environmentally sustainable energy production with the impact that dramatically higher energy costs will have on the consumer. Given that cap and trade legislation for carbon emissions is likely to pass, the need for an overly ambitious and narrowly defined Renewable Energy Standard that may cause consumers in certain states to see their energy bills skyrocket should be reconsidered during this time of economic uncertainty. Sincerely, Brent Wilkes The League of United Latin American Citizens advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. # # # |