Moti Rieber: Clean Power Plan good for state, nation, world

Imagine, if you will, a committee designed to oppose the labeling of cigarette packaging that did not mention lung cancer. That’s what it was like at the hearing of the Legislature’s Joint Clean Power Plan Implementation Study Committee, which met earlier this month.

The committee was quite up in arms about the Clean Power Plan, the rules on power generation designed to lower the United States’ total carbon emissions 32 percent by 2030. Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, implied that a violent rebellion was in store if the government kept it up. There were presentations from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, which is suing over the law; by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Corporation Commission, which are charged with drawing up Kansas’ state plan to meet the requirements of the CPP; and by the utilities, which are suing, yet planning to cooperate in drawing up the state plan. For “national perspective,” the committee heard a presentation by the Koch-funded American Energy Alliance – and the less said about that, the better.

What wasn’t heard was anyone who thinks that clean energy is a good thing, or that the CPP is not a disaster – or even any mention of what is driving it: the challenge of global climate change.

This isn’t surprising, as both the chairman of the committee, Rep. Dennis Hedke, R-Wichita, and the vice chairman, Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, are long-standing deniers of the scientific consensus that human activity is causing changes in our climate. So they set up a kangaroo hearing to tell them what they already believe.

Fortunately, the Legislature seems to be among the last bastions of this kind of politically motivated ignorance. In response to the Clean Power Plan, countries all over the world – including major emitters China, Brazil and the European Union – have committed to capping or cutting their carbon emissions as well.

The organization I lead, Kansas Interfaith Power and Light, is concerned with the moral ramifications of climate change. These were explained powerfully and beautifully by Pope Francis in his encyclical “Laudato Si’,” in which he said, “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

And polls consistently show wide support for renewable energy, with a recent poll even showing that 72 percent of conservative voters think that we should prioritize the development of clean energy sources.

Kansas is well-situated to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the CPP. Almost 20 percent of our electricity grid is from renewable energy already, and that number can increase. We can export our wind energy to states to the east that have to meet emissions targets but don’t have the abundant renewable resources we have. Our substantial capacity for solar energy has only begun to be utilized. And Kansas is consistently among the lowest states in the union when it comes to energy efficiency, which is the lowest hanging fruit of all.

In short, the Clean Power Plan is good for the state, the country and the world. I only hope that the refusal of state government to acknowledge scientific reality doesn’t hamper Kansas’ ability to take advantage of the transition to our clean energy future.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Moti Rieber: Clean Power Plan good for state, nation, world."