Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is calling on members of the Kentucky House to soundly reject House Bill 537 when it returns to Frankfort on March 26.

The poorly written energy bill that proposed little good in its original form has now been turned into a catchall bill for bad energy legislation. On Friday, the Senate added support for nuclear power plants and oil/gas drilling in state parks and on university property.

Kentuckians are ready to take positive, bold steps in transitioning to a green energy economy. In order to protect our citizens and our economy, our elected officials ought to be leading the way toward clean energy and energy efficiency. If we don’t take these necessary steps we’ll watch the rest of the nation pass us by and Kentuckians will bear the consequences of escalating energy costs and unrealized jobs.

HB 537 ends up doing just the opposite of what it should. It underachieves in the areas of energy efficiency and renewables and is heavily weighted in favor of the future development of carbon-based fuels dependent on experimental technology with fatal flaws. Adding support for nuclear power plants when there is still no solution to radioactive waste disposal is even more ill-advised. These decisions will be very costly for taxpayers and consumers in the short-term and the long-term.

Allowing drilling on state-owned and university property, and redefining “alternative” fuel to include crude petroleum, appear as last-gasp desperation moves to prop up profits for the increasingly risky fossil fuel industries. It’s like burning the furniture to keep a fire in the stove. It doesn’t show much long-term thinking.

When it comes to House Bill 537, they got it exactly wrong. It is a missed opportunity to take positive steps that will address Kentucky’s most urgent energy needs and prepare our economy for the future we know is coming.

Doug Doerrfeld
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
606-784-9226

BACKGROUND

HB 537 — the governor’s energy bill — in its original form had several provisions: direct the Energy Cabinet to develop policies toward a renewable energy portfolio but without codifying mandated goals; create an Energy Education work group; create Alternative Transportation Fuel Standard for use of non-traditional (coal-based) fuels; create carbon management legal issues study group; add algae-derived fuel to definition of 'biodiesel' and provide higher tax credit for biodiesel produced from algae than from other feedstocks; make projects extracting crude oil from oil shale or tar sands eligible for tax credits as an “alternative” fuel. It passed the House on March 2 after a promise on the floor from Rep. Rocky Adkins that it would be improved in the Senate.

This bill was pending on the Senate floor, slowed by a floor amendment to add the provisions of SB 13, until Friday when it was returned to the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee. The committee adopted a committee substitute that keeps almost all of HB 537’s original provisions. Added to the bill were Senate Bill 13, House Bill 138 and Senate Joint Resolution 67. After getting approval from the committee it was sent to the floor and passed 37-1. The only No vote came from Sen. Charlie Borders.

ADDED: Senate Bill 13, to take away barriers to the building of nuclear power plants in Kentucky. SB 13 previously passed the Senate, 29-6, but appeared to have little chance of passage in the House.

ADDED: SJR 67, which directs the Department for Energy Development and the Kentucky Geological Survey to “quantify the potential oil and natural gas resources on state-owned and university-owned properties.” It also directs the energy agency to develop criteria “for permitting oil and gas operations.” SJR 67 was adopted by the Senate in February, passed the House 90-5 on Tuesday and sent to the governor.

ADDED: SB 138, which had passed the Senate and was still on the House floor, is very similar but takes the oil and gas leasing a step further. It actually authorizes the “Finance and Administration cabinet to lease mineral rights owned by the state and by public universities.”

Jerry Hardt
KFTC Communications Director
901 Franklin Street
Louisville KY 40206
502-614-6637
jhardt@kftc.org