| The Energy Efficiency Act, Senate bill 360 |
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| Written by Gerald Rudolph | |||
| Tuesday, 15 January 2008 07:29 | |||
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The Common Agenda Energy Committee considers monitoring Senate Bill 360 a high priority. Senator Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, introduced the bill.
Bill 360 states, "Section 48-52-215. For purposes of this chapter, 'renewable energy resources' means solar photovoltaic energy, solar thermal energy, wind power, hydroelectric, geothermal energy, tidal energy, recycling, hydrogen fuel derived from renewable resources, biomass energy, nuclear energy, and landfill gas." The originally wording did not include biomass energy, nuclear energy and landfill gas. Senator Daniel Verden III added nuclear energy, at the request of one of the utilities. The key word is renewable. Renewable energy is defined as energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes cannot be depleted. Mining uranium doesn't qualify as a regenerative resource. Legislatively defining nuclear power as renewable energy source will remove the incentive for South Carolina utilities to use solar, wind, hydro or other truly renewables, due to the fact that our utilities already produce 50%-60% of their electricity from nuclear reactors. Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who recently ordered utilities to get 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources "with a strong focus on wind and solar", did not agree to pressure by Florida Power and Light to include nuclear on the list of renewable resources. Some states, such as New Mexico, have included language in their legislation to assure that renewables do not include electric energy generated by use of fossil fuels, coal or nuclear energy. S 360 passed the Senate on 5/30/2007. The bill was introduced to the house on 5/31/2007 and was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs, where it currently resides. Message from John Ramsburgh of Conservation Voters of SC Dear Friends, Thank you all for your interest in our effort to stop S.360, which seeks to define renewable energy in South Carolina to include nuclear. Several of you are coming to our conservation lobby day this Tuesday, and others have volunteered to call the subcommittee members on the Ag Committee to express opposition to this bill. A number of us have been on conference calls to discuss our messaging, and Ben Moore at CCL has developed the following very excellent talking points. As Ben's document makes clear, our best case is to focus on the fact that nuclear is not a renewable energy and that this bill will hurt our renewable energy sector. While several of us are involved in a broader effort to make South Carolina a nuclear-free state, there is widespread consensus that making that case here might actually damage our efforts. We will meet Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Nickelodeon Theater (corner of Main and Pendleton, next to Immaculate Consumption). Cary Chamblee can walk us through the best ways to talk with our legislators, and we may even have time to practice before going over. If you can't make it on Tuesday but are willing to call Agriculture subcommittee members, please let me know in advance so that we can practice these talking points over the phone. We have a number of friends on this committee, and a number of not-so-friends. We'll want to coordinate closely before you approach them. But a phone call on Tuesday morning before session or afternoon after session might really help. Many thanks and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday! John Here are the subcommittee assignments: Rep. Dwight A. Loftis, Chairman Rep. Nelson L. Hardwick Rep. Kenneth F. Hodges Rep. Phillip D. Lowe Rep. Harold Mitchell, Jr. ***************************************** John Ramsburgh Project Director, CVSC 1226 Pickens St. Columbia, SC 29201 803-799-0189 (o) 828-275-5600 (c) www.heatison.org s360_flyer Comments from Ruth Thomas Add your comment
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