Beshear Will Have Energy Plan Developed for State

By Jack Brammer, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Jul. 17–FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear has directed the state’s new energy secretary, Len Peters, to present to him by September a comprehensive energy plan for the state.

At a Capitol news conference Wednesday, both said mountaintop removal — a controversial method of extracting coal from mountains — can be done environmentally under existing regulations and that a state plan might include nuclear energy.

“It’s time for Kentucky to look at this issue again,” Beshear said of nuclear energy.

Environmentalist Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, said in a phone interview that mountaintop removal will “never be a green practice” and that any new investments in nuclear energy “do not make sense” since it would take at least 10 years to start a plant.

FitzGerald also noted that every new administration “seems to have a new energy policy, which doesn’t provide a lot of continuity on the issue.”

The environmentalist expressed hope that Peters will “include a dialogue of stakeholders” in devising the plan and put the focus on energy efficiencies and managing the demand for energy.

Beshear said he wants Kentucky “to lead the nation to an era of energy self-sufficiency” and that his administration will explore all options in meeting that goal.

The Democratic governor emphasized that Kentucky is “a coal state” and that coal will play a pivotal role in his energy plan.

Beshear said he expects the plan to maintain and increase the state’s annual coal production levels to protect the employment of 18,000 coal miners and use coal to produce enough crude petroleum to meet the state’s transportation needs.

Kentucky currently consumes more than 2 billion gallons of gasoline a year, the governor said.

Other parts of the plan, Beshear said, will:

— Reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation.

Kentucky now ranks seventh in the nation in carbon dioxide emissions per capita. “We must make coal cleaner and greener,” the governor said.

— More fully use wind, solar and other renewable energy resources.

Now, less than 3 percent of the state’s electricity is generated by renewable resources, and most of that is hydroelectric.

— Generate bio-diesel from algae production and other non-food biomass.

— Create thousands of additional jobs for Kentuckians in energy businesses.

— Result in Kentuckians using less energy. The state ranks sixth in the nation in per capita energy usage.

Energy and Environment Secretary Peters said the plan will allow the state to “have policies and programs in place that allow us to utilize our energy resources in an environmentally sound manner and that help us to achieve energy independence.”

He acknowledged that the state’s policy will be influenced by decisions at the national level.

The new cabinet Peters heads incorporates the Departments for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the former Governor’s Office of Energy Policy.

FitzGerald said the environmental and regulatory departments serve two different functions — setting policy and enforcing it — and should have been separated.

Reach Jack Brammer at (859) 231-1302 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1302.This is an endnote here an dhdjbfv jhbdvf djfbvjd vhbdfjv jdbvf jdfjbvh jvfjkdbf

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