The Best Energy Bill Money Could Buy

In my opinion piece of Dec. 5 ("Our Energy Policy at a Crossroads"), I described the long and bumpy journey that the vital congressional energy bill was taking on Capitol Hill. At the time there was reason to hope that the bill, about to be voted on in the Senate, would contain adequate funding to create a national renewable electricity standard and to incentivize citizens wishing to install solar and other clean energy systems. It would be our last, best chance to turn away from the multiple evils of fossil fuels and give renewables the chance to show their worth. With most of the world's industrialized countries firmly on the road to a clean energy regime, we are still in the driveway fumbling for the car keys, and no-one in the neighborhood thinks it's funny.

But if you were wondering what this year's presidential candidates mean when they talk of Washington being "broken," the energy bill is a perfect example. On Dec. 13, the U.S. Senate showed its true face to all those who believe that we really do have, in this country, a system of government of the people, by the people, for the people. By a vote of 59-40, just one vote short of the number needed to cut off debate, the Senate failed to include in the 2007 energy bill any provision for funding renewable energy on a meaningful scale.

It was not that senators were in any doubt about the importance of the legislation to our future, more that the peculiarities of the American way of politics trumped common sense and hope.

Throughout this year, the powerful (read: wealthy and profligate) oil and gas industry lobby kept up its pressure on our elected senators - some $7.7 million in pressure (or contributions, as it's sometimes called). Supporters of solar, wind, geothermal and other forms of renewable energy could not match the superior debating skills purchased by these contributions, so the troublesome provisions for funding clean energy had to be dropped from the bill. Senators from states where the oil and gas lobby is strongest (i.e., most generous) voted to continue support for the industry, even though the proposed tightening of tax breaks to fund renewables would have amounted to only 1 percent to 2 percent of the industry's net (and notoriously inflated) profits.

As a result, investment tax credits for such useful initiatives as rooftop solar panels, and production tax credits for wind farms large enough to power entire counties, may cease to exist by this time next year. Entrepreneurs working to create utility-scale clean energy projects that would significantly cut pollution from fossil fuel plants, and ordinary citizens who might just be able to afford PV panels, may well drop their plans. The casualties will be members of the nascent clean energy industry, who may well have to shut up shop, and those members of the human race who need to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

The timing of the energy bill vote may strike historians as curious in years to come; half a world away, in Bali, attendees at the U.N. global warming conference were working toward final agreement on long-term measures to mitigate climate change, while members of the U.S. Senate (including Sen. Judd Gregg and up-for-reelection Sen. John Sununu) were rewarding the oil and gas industry for its long-term support.

But it's that reciprocal arrangement between government and deep-pocket donors, not timing, that most betrays Lincoln's call for government of, by and for the people. Because when an elected official's continued livelihood depends more on large corporate or institutional donors than on truly representing the will of the voters, when the votes he or she casts are for a quid pro quo rather than the public benefit, when the whole process of governance is thereby corrupt by design, then government no longer has any connection with the people and must be changed.

As for that pesky energy bill, what was left of it sailed through the Senate on an 86-8 vote and was finally signed into law by President Bush a week before Christmas.

And what was left of it included minimum standards for automobile gas mileage, a mandate for biofuels and some pocket-change provisions to increase energy efficiency in government departments. In the final analysis, there are valuable elements in this bill, but nothing can hide the fact that, given the chance to vote for all of us, our government voted for itself.

Some of this year's presidential candidates have spoken of the need for change in America, and have hinted that they will reduce the power of lobbyists if elected. This is good to hear, but much more will be needed to fix not just Washington but our whole nation. One man or woman in the Oval Office cannot make the radical changes we need without overwhelming support from a courageous Congress. And together, the president's and Congress's most important task will be to rid the electoral process of the poisonous influence of big money, if government is ever to truly serve the people again.

Chris Stimpson, a resident of Keene, is executive campaigner for solar-nation.org, a nationwide advocacy organization promoting the use of solar energy.