House committee approves HB 92

    When the General Assembly had its special session last August, it was all about giving hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to big energy and mostly coal-burning companies.  Public pressure against this blatant and short-sighted giveaway prompted legislators to throw in a few provisions for renewable energy.

    Trouble is, they didn’t think through these provisions very well.  So there is a slew of renewable and energy efficiency bills in the current General Assembly to improve these programs, and one of those bills got a hearing and favorable committee vote today.

    House Bill 92, sponsored by Louisville Rep. Jim Wayne, would lower the threshold for some renewable energy projects to receive state support from a $1 million capital investment to a $50,000 capital investment. Given that renewable and sustainable energy is often small-scale and local, there would be many viable projects that would not meet the $1 million capital investment threshold before being eligible for state subsidies. HB 92 recognizes this and does something about it.

    The hearing was in the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee, where Rep. Wayne, KFTC’s Teri Blanton, Andy McDonald of the Kentucky Solar Partnership and Bruce Williams of the Kentucky Conservation Committee all offered supporting testimony. (Listen to their testimony from KET here.) The committee approved the bill by unanimous vote.

    The coal industry did not testify against the bill, as they have in the past against renewable energy initiatives.