An energy company executive, a state energy official and an environmental activist all bemoaned the polarized nature of the current energy debate and appealed to NCEW members to bring more reasoned information to their readers.

The national discussion is more about political ideology rather than "what benefits America and what's good in the long run without crashing the economy," said Kimball Rasmussen, president/CEO of Deseret Power in Utah.

The other area of agreement in the session, "The Air We Breathe: America's Energy Revolution," was that the United States should emphasize energy efficiency - setting standards and improving technology to reduce emissions before they get into the air.

Opinions diverged, however, on the national cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House. The legislation sets carbon-dioxide limits for industries, allowing free-market trade of pollution credits between companies to meet mandates.

Dianne Nielson, energy advisor to Utah's governor, described the policy as a market solution that would address industries that produce only 32.4 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. Mandates such as regulations on residential and commercial construction and tougher air quality standards are also essential. "Cap and trade is not a pollution prevention or reduction program," she said.
The cap-and trade program could reduce business and jobs and increase consumer costs without having much impact on the environment, insisted Rasmussen. He questioned whether estimated global warming trends are accurate, whether the remedy was too broad and if it made sense as a policy without fast-growing countries like China on board. He also dismissed renewable energy, such as a wind, as too little and too sporadic.

Yet U.S. renewable energy supplies are growing fast and the U.S. is leading the world in wind energy development, said Sarah Wright with Utah Clean Energy. Wind accounted for 42 percent of U.S. energy capacity in 2008, up from 12 percent in 2005, she said. Solar energy prices, she said, is also coming down.

Wright countered Ramsussen's complaint that his industry is being pushed to a goal of zero emissions by 2050 before technology has presented sufficient alternatives. "We have the technology," she said. "To say we have to know now all the avenues to get us to 2050 -- we're selling ourselves short."

Renewables, cap and trade, regulation and a carbon tax all are "tools to use in reaching solutions," said Nielson, "They should not be weapons."
Vanessa Gallman is the editorial page editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington, Ky. Pictured above: Kimball Rasmussen, CEO, Desert Power, left, NCEWmember Morgan McGinley, retired EPE of The Day, center; Amit Pal, NCEW member, the Progressive.