Gathering Places
Gathering Places
Governor’s
global warming bill
would encourage
clean energy useGlobal warming is perhaps the biggest threat to Hawaii's existence. But don't look for solutions from President Bush. His plan is more pandering to polluters than serious cuts in carbon dioxide.
Fortunately, the Cayetano administration isn't leaving Hawaii's future in Bush's hands. They are taking leadership on this tough issue by supporting legislation, House Bill 2513, to address Hawaii's contribution to global warming.
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that global warming is real, dangerous and immediate. The International Panel on Climate Change -- a body of the world's foremost climatologists convened by the United Nations -- has concluded that we will raise the planet's average temperature four to 10 degrees in the next century. For Hawaii, the science predicts rising sea levels of up to 3 feet, increased hurricane intensity and frequency and decreasing freshwater aquifers.
For Hawaii, the medicine isn't so hard to take. The tools we have to address the problem are likely to foster new industry and significant savings for the state's economy. More importantly, we can act on the greatest threat to Hawaii and demonstrate to the world that we are taking this seriously. The administration's bill is a small step in that direction.
The simple goal is to provide an incentive to reduce Hawaii's contribution to global warming while encouraging clean energy development in the state and supporting the forestry industry. The bill places a 25-cent fee on each ton of carbon dioxide emitted by a power plant. The plant's owner may choose to pay the fee or avoid it through renewable energy projects or conservation. Or they may do as AES -- the operators of the coal plant on Oahu -- have already done: Plant trees to absorb the carbon dioxide. Fees will be used for programs to encourage renewable energy use, implement energy efficiency measures or plant trees -- anything that results in the direct reduction of carbon dioxide.
Some will say it isn't fair to ask the electric utility industry to reduce unilaterally carbon dioxide emissions; after all, the transportation sector emits an equal amount of carbon dioxide. But we are not prepared -- technologically or politically -- to reduce the carbon emitted from jets or ships. Although the technology is available to reduce emissions from cars and trucks, those decisions, for the most part, are made outside of the state.
Critics of the measure also point to costs, that the utilities won't act to reduce emissions and simply pass the cost on to ratepayers. If that is true -- and our utilities doggedly refuse to move away from imported coal and oil -- then this bill will cost a half-penny per day per ratepayer starting in 2005. But the funds collected will be used for programs -- such as energy efficiency in state buildings or solar panels for schools -- that will ultimately decrease demands on the state budget.
The true goal of HB 2513 is to lead the state away from carbon-emitting fossil fuel and toward clean energy sources, -- wind, solar, hydro and biomass.
Last year, a study commissioned by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism concluded that increasing the proportion of electricity produced by renewable energy to 10.5 percent by 2010 would save ratepayers a net present value of $98.3 million from 2001 to 2020. This was in comparison to the utilities' current plans for all fossil fuel.
Beyond direct savings to the state, there are other economic values at stake that don't readily appear on our balance sheets. That's what drove more than 2,500 economists to sign the "Economists Statement on Climate Change." The statement urged nations to use market mechanisms, such as a carbon tax, to address climate change. They recognized that the cost of taking action is in our favor; the cost of doing nothing is not.
Hawaii can take action on global warming and inspire others to do the same. We have the facts before us. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.
The economy is not an excuse. Future generations will judge us based on whether we take immediate action to abate carbon emissions. Hawaii can rein in its carbon dioxide emissions and enjoy the economic benefits of doing so.
>Jeffrey Mikulina is the director
of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter.