Pennsylvania is Facing Extremely Important ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT Decisions in Near Term
To Editor: Williamsport Sun-Gazette, June 15, 2021
The recent column by PA State Sens. Gene Yaw and Scott Martin on “Energy production important to Pennsylvania’s environmental future” shows that they do not appreciate the urgency of the global climate crisis. Pretending that the problem does not exist will not make it go away.
Even the International Energy Agency, a conservative research institute that usually tilts strongly to the fossil fuel industry, said in a recently released report that “It is past time for governments to act, and act decisively to accelerate the clean energy transformation.” The IEA recommends no new fossil fuel investments for facilities that do not already have firm commitments, and a rapid transition to electric vehicles.
Yaw and Martin claim that wind and solar energy is “more expensive than electricity generated from coal, nuclear, hydroelectric and natural gas.”
But the Coal Crossover report … (https://energyinnovation.org/publication/the-coal-cost-crossover-2021/ ) shows that is not true, that renewables are already cheaper than operating most existing coal-fired power plants.
Yaw and Martin also claim that “… other states … pick winners and losers by subsidizing energy resources”, but they ignore the indirect subsidy given to fossil fuels by failing to incorporate the cost of carbon. Accounting for the impacts of climate change, not to mention the public health impacts, dramatically exacerbates the already high cost of coal and gas.
Renewable energy will undoubtedly produce environmental benefits and has great promise in achieving reducing costs. Renewables and energy efficiency create more jobs per dollar invested than do fossil fuels. We certainly owe it to fossil fuel workers and communities to invest in the needed transition, but those investments will not occur if we continue a futile attempt to sustain the status quo.
By investing in a clean energy future, both current ratepayers and our children will be the beneficiaries.
>> Duane Nichols, Coordinator, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition
>> Jim Kotcon, Conservation Chair, WV Sierra Club, Morgantown, WV
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