KFTC Members Stand Up For Clean Energy During the Governor's Energy Conference

On Monday and Tuesday of last week, September 26th and 27th, at least 10 KFTC members promoted the need for increased investment in clean energy solutions at the Kentucky Governor's Conference on Energy and the Environment.

After hearing a speaker state that Kentucky doesn't have the resources necessary to generate electricity from renewable energy, member Tona Barkely stood up and asked, "Why do I keep hearing this mantra - that Kentucky doesn't have what we need to generate clean energy? It simply isn't true and I don't know why it continues to be repeated." Several audience members cheered.

Conference participants also had the chance to hear EPA's Region 4 director, Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, tout the values of clean energy during her speech as well.

"We all recognize the need for clean energy and fuel, green housing, sustainable infrastructures, weaving public health protections into our decisions proactively. And, we have a constitutional rights – our laws don’t say "clean water for some and not for others,â€ she said.

She went on to say that listening to the solutions brought forth by the people who are most affected by the problems of old energy and most underserved is a main focus of the EPAs agenda in the coming year. Fleming named KFTC as an important partner in creating these solutions and talked about how much she learned on the tour of Eastern Kentucky KFTC hosted for EPA officials just a couple of months ago.

 

Taking the conference as a whole, there were signs that the statewide discussion about clean energy solutions is advancing. Compared to the last few years, a comparatively wide variety of sessions on clean energy solutions were offered. Break-out sessions explored distributed energy options in Kentucky, the Kentucky Home Performance home efficiency program and statewide recycling efforts. A representative from East Kentucky Power Cooperative was one of several speakers who promoted the notion that Kentucky has great opportunities for small-scale solar generation and he gave examples of such in the EKPC service territory.

Further, former Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado was invited to speak on a plenary session about the advances his state saw in job creation and renewable energy production during his tenure. He credited the success to the implementation of statewide energy policies that encouraged such growth.

 While dismissive of Kentucky's ability to generate energy from renewable sources, State Energy Secretary Len Peters and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Dave Adkisson, both said that energy efficiency contains a lot of promise and seems to be the most likely common ground amongst many interests. "There's a quiet revolution going on in conservation," Adkisson said.

The Clean Energy Opportunity Act, sponsored last year by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian and supported by KFTC through the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance, would increase the amount of energy that utilities offset through energy efficiency programs every year.

 

Look for more information about the conference in the upcoming issue of KFTC's Balancing The Scales.