Climate Change Aesthetics: Not a Pretty Picture

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Chuck Becker

 

Question: “Where is the logical place to install solar panels?”
Answer by most: “The desert.”
Answer by Dianne Feinstein: “Uhh . . . not so fast.”

 

Between 1999 and 2004, 600,000 acres of land in the Mojave Desert were acquired by an environmental group and donated to the Federal Bureau of Land Management. There are now 14 solar energy and five wind energy projects that are seeking to construct renewable energy projects on the land.

California Senator Feinstein, a supporter of climate change legislation, is introducing legislation to prohibit the use of the land for solar or wind projects. In her words:

The Catellus lands were purchased with nearly $45 million in private funds and $18 million in federal funds and donated to the federal government for the purpose of conservation, and that commitment must be upheld. Period.

It seems to me that someone might argue that Ms. Feinstein’s definition of “conservation” is pretty narrow. Isn’t the opportunity to create renewable energy a conservation purpose? Won’t wind and solar energy help to conserve other resources, like coal and clean air? If less oil is used, aren't we conserving natural resources? 

Comments made by the Senator indicate that her objection may be to the aesthetics of the proposals. Solar panel facilities and wind farms are big and visable. For some they are beautiful, for others they are ugly. According to a group that discussed the matter with Ms. Feinstein, she seemed concerned about the visual effect of huge solar farms on Route 66, the highway that runs through the Mojave.

If aesthetics begin to control the debate on locating renewable energy facilities, the winners will be the climate change objectors. They’ll sit back and watch the environmental advocates shoot at each other. For example, Ms. Feinstein’s position, which has already resulted in two major solar projects being canceled, has prompted Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to say: “This is arguably the best solar land in the world, and Senator Feinstein shouldn’t be allowed to take this land off the table without a proper and scientific environmental review.” Governor Schwarzenegger, trying to increase the use of renewable energy in California to 33% by 2020, said: “If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it.” Bear in mind, these voices are supposedly on the same side. 

This is one of those climate change issues that the environmental activists and climate change proponents need to get resolved quickly. Those promoting renewable energy need to understand that allowing aesthetic considerations is a sure fire way to severely limit solar and wind from the renewable energy mix because there will always be those (frequently powerful individuals) who will say that big and shiny is ugly. Without those options, what is left is primarily coal and nuclear. While that certainly is an approach that will be supported by Lamar Alexander and John McCain, I’m fairly certain it’s not what climate change advocates are contemplating.
 

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Will Nuclear Power Be Part Of The Solution?

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Chuck Becker

For years now, environmentalists (and most Democrats) have been lauding the virtues of wind power and solar power as the answer to America’s clean energy problem while refusing to even consider the nuclear (or nucular, depending on your party) option. Never mind that the wind appears to be slowing down and solar energy companies are failing like all other businesses.

Honest discussion of nuclear power on the political front has been nonexistent. Lamar Alexander initiated his 100-new-nuclear-facilities-in-20-years campaign and was quickly relegated to crackpot-of-the-month status. Sometime shortly after August 23, 2009, that seems to have changed. 

On that morning, John McCain appeared on This Week. McCain has long been a proponent of nuclear energy but, since the presidential campaign, he has been fairly quiet on the topic. George Stephanopoulos asked him if nuclear energy should be considered as part of the energy solution. Mr. McCain’s response was that "we can't get there from here" without nuclear power and he added:

We have got to build 100 nuclear power plants in the next 20 years. We can do that. Right now, the administration’s position is against storage and they’re against recycling of spent nuclear fuel. I can’t support a genuine reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, unless nuclear power is a key part of it.

There are a lot of Republicans that the Democrats can ignore, but John McCain isn't one of them.  As is true in most negotiations, it was not a good idea for Democrats (at the insistence of the most vocal environmentalists) to simple take nuclear power off the table.  So when McCain publicly advocated the need for a nuclear discussion, it would have been a mistake to continue to ignore the call.

And they didn’t.

Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works, has now said “there will be a nuclear title in the bill.” She has not elaborated on the comment yet, but one should expect at least a serious discussion of the nuclear option in the near future. 

Nuclear power has a lot of problems, but so do the alternatives. There is no question that solar and wind power will be part of the discussion for a long time to come.  But taking any option off of the table, particularly to appease an extreme constituency, is a mistake for either party. And give credit where credit is due -- to McCain for his advocacy and to Boxer for listening. It isn’t exactly bi-partisanship at work, but at least it’s a dialog. Now if we can all just agree on how to pronounce it . . . .

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