Renewable energy in West Virginia?

This is part of a news release that came in my morning e-mail:

Washington, DC—Global warming pollution in West Virginia increased by 7% between 1990 and 2004, according to The Carbon Boom, a new analysis of state fossil fuel consumption data released today by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). This is the first time that 2004 state-by-state data on carbon dioxide emissions have been released.

“Given the risks from global warming, it’s incredibly irresponsible to allow West Virginia’s global warming pollution to increase. It’s like the doctor telling you that you need to go on a serious diet, but instead you go straight for the Ben & Jerry’s,” said Rose Garr, mid-Atlantic field organizer for U.S. PIRG.

U.S. PIRG’s report comes less than a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. body charged with assessing the scientific record on global warming, released its consensus report on the current and projected impacts of global warming. The report warned of increasing droughts, floods, heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding in the United States but concluded that “many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed” by quickly and significantly reducing global warming pollution.

“With West Virginia’s strong ties to coal production, it’s not going to be easy for our state to provide leadership in the fight against global warming. But considering the urgency and magnitude of the threat, we have to turn this challenge into an opportunity,” said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “If our leaders in Congress muster the will, West Virginia can be a leader in renewable energy production, creating both jobs and beginning to stabilize global warming emissions. The same billions politicians want to spend on coal-to-liquid – a Nazi-era technology that produces huge volumes of global warming gases – can be spent instead on renewable energy production."

That was the point where I was supposed to get on this blog and rant about what was said. But the reporter in me said I should call the OVEC people and hear what they have to say. So I e-mailed these to one of the people who sent the news release. I sent them in hopes we could get together and have a real discussion, because I often wonder how viable "renewable energy" resources are in terms of meeting our total energy needs.

What renewables? When someone tries to build a wind farm, they get shouted at for killing bats and birds. We have too many cloudy days for solar technology, which has its own drawbacks with hazmat concerns. And where in West Virginia will you build a hydroelectric dam that will make a significant difference in energy production? And where will we grow enough grain or cellulose for ethanol production?

We won’t mention building a nuclear plant in coal-dominated West Virginia.

Also, isn’t it inappropriate to link coal-to-liquid technology with Naziism? I mean, technically, isn’t Social Security a Nazi-era social program?

I sent this morning. I wanted to give the OVEC folks the courtesy of receiving the message before I posted this on the Internet.

Vivian Stockman called me at maybe 11:30 a.m. At the time, I was trying to get the Friday and Saturday editorial pages done, so we arranged for me to call her back at 2:15 p.m.

Which I did.

We had a pretty pleasant conversation. Stockman is a believer in developing alternate energy technologies. She says Ronald Reagan drove that research to Europe by taking the solar panels off the White House and ending subsidies for tech development in alternate energy.

And she is of the opinion that Bluestone, Sutton and other dams in West Virginia are fully capable of providing a good deal of hydropower, if the resistance of coal companies can be overcome.

Her view is that we can reduce our energy use by 20 to 30 percent through conservation and efficiences without sacrificing our lifestyles.

"It's definitely THE issue of our time," she sai9d.

As for the Nazi comment, she said the only two countries to invest heavily in coal-to-liquid were Nazi Germany and the apartheid government of South Africa.

"This is an antiquated technology used by desperate regimes," she said.

When I asked about whether that means Nick Joe Rahall and Joe Manchin are Nazis because they support coal-to-liquid, she wanted me to know that she was not calling them Nazis.

There was more, but the phone call ended nicely.

I have not had time today to check any part of Stockman's claims. Maybe someday soon, if I can get a few other things off my desk. I still have my doubts.

Later in the day, Stockman e-mailed me a Web site where she keeps tabs on renewable energy.

It's at www.ohvec.org/news_renewable_energy.html