Committees work to repeal alternative energy law - Beckley Register-Herald

CHARLESTON â€" Committees on Energy, Industry and Mining in both legislative chambers took the first steps Thursday toward repealing a 2009 law that allowed credits for the use of alternative energies, including clean coal. 

The law also covered “net metering,” which allowed producers of electricity through solar panels and windmills to sell electricity back to utility companies. Through the legislation, the Public Service Commission established tradable credits used to meet the law’s standards and set benchmarks for how many credits utility companies were to have in place during a 10-year period. 

Sen. Jeff Mullins, R-Raleigh, chairs the committee. 

Mullins said repealing the law means energy producers will be able to continue to buy coal to run their plants, a measure which will keep prices down. 

“If we don’t keep coal-fired plants around, keep our coal industry going, we’re going to continue to see sky-rocketing energy prices,” Mullins said. 

Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton, said 13 power plants are currently under construction across the country; not one will use coal. 

“It’s immaterial how good our coal is if no one wants to use it,” Facemire said. “We have to do be extremely cautious.”

First Energy’s Sammy Gray said his company has no new plants under construction and no plans to build any. First Energy, the parent company of Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison, acquired the Harrison Power Station in Haywood in the last few years. Gray said his company can meet its power needs with that acquisition. 

As for the Alternative Energy Act, Gray told the House Committee on Energy that First Energy is “fine with it in place” and “fine if you repeal it;” however, he said the company does prefer allowing the free market to dictate the energy source. 

First Energy already complies with the law, although it only recently took effect on Jan. 1, he said. 

Other states, he said, do have similar laws. 

Bill Raney, executive director of the West Virginia Coal Association, said his industry supported the law when it was passed in 2009, but could not foresee the onslaught of regulations that have since been handed down by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. 

“It needs to be repealed,” he said. 

Coal, he said, needs to be cost competitive with alternative energies. 

Mullins said the only “pushback” from repealing the law has come from state residents who have invested in solar panels and windmills to participate in net metering. 

His Senate committee will introduce a substitute for the bill that retains language that codifies net metering. The House of Delegates version passed out of committee without amendment. It will progress to the Committee on the Judiciary before heading to the House floor.

Delegate Linda Phillips, D-Wyoming, said she has been contacted by state residents outside her district concerned about net marketing. Phillips said her focus would remain on what helps the coal industry. 

Former Speaker of the House Tim Miley didn’t mince words in his criticism of repealing the 2009 law. Miley said he was never approached about the issue when he was the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary or while he was Speaker. 

And, Miley said, the law doesn’t do the coal industry much harm. 

“It was a toothless tiger when we passed it,” he said. “It will be a toothless tiger when it’s removed.”

Miley said he fears residents in coal producing counties will believe repealing the law is a forerunner of the coal industry regaining dominance over energy markets. 

He said Republicans labeled it a “cap and trade” bill, which it isn’t. 

“They wanted to label every Democrat in West Virginia as anti-coal,” Miley said. “Every Democrat knows the importance of coal.”

Repealing the alternative energy law also got harsh words from its chief backer. U.S.  Sen. Joe Manchin, D- W.Va., said he is “deeply disappointed” state Republican leaders have “decided to play partisan politics with our state’s energy and utility rates.

“(T)his attempt by Republicans proves that the worst of Washington political gamesmanship has made its way to West Virginia,” Manchin said. 

Manchin, who was governor when the bill passed, said collaboration on the bill brought industry, coal miners and environmental leaders together to use all the state’s resources.

“Coal will be a part of our nation’s energy portfolio for the next several decades, and West Virginia must lead the way in showing other states how to produce and burn coal more efficiently and cleanly,” he said. “This law struck a balance between our economy and our environment, and has reduced utility rates for middle class West Virginians, something all of our elected officials should be focused on.” 

Manchin challenged state GOP leaders to introduce legislation that requires a “mandatory reduction of utility rates of more than 10 percent for all West Virginians.”

“West Virginia was the only state that showed, if we take advantage of clean energy technologies, we can reduce emissions while still utilizing coal. It is my belief that West Virginia’s energy policies can be used as a template for future national energy policies to strike that balance between environmental concerns and America’s energy needs,” he concluded.

The bill called for using advanced coal technology, coal bed methane, waste coal and fuel produced by coal gasification, as well as natural and synthetic gases, tire-derived fuel and recycled energy. 

â€" E-mail: ppritt@register-herald.com Follow PamPrittRH on Twitter