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Clean Power Means Good Jobs for State (Glen Hooks Commentary)

3 min read

Arkansas is a special and beloved place to me. I’m a lifelong Arkansan, with children born and raised here. This state is a place full of natural wonder and beauty, and I often take pains to invite out-of-staters to visit our 52 state parks, two national forests and one breathtaking national river. Our home state is a true treasure.

My biggest frustration as an Arkansan is our state’s unrealized potential. Arkansas is always at the bottom of the list when it comes to education, income and health, yet we seem to reflexively avoid taking steps to improve. All too often, we stick to our old ways even when we know there are better options.

One example of this tendency is found in our state’s outdated and harmful energy policy. Over the past decade, as cleaner and less expensive options have emerged, our nation has shifted dramatically away from burning coal to produce electricity. About 183 proposed coal-fired power plants have been canceled during that period and 180 existing coal-fired power plants have either been retired or a date has been announced for their retirement. Also, clean and affordable solar and wind energy production has increased exponentially across the country. States that have embraced this trend are reaping economic benefits in addition to an improved outlook for their environment and public health.

Arkansas, true to our tradition, has languished as the rest of the nation moves toward a clean-energy future. While the rest of the country is transitioning away from coal-fired electricity, Arkansas has opened two coal-fired power plants in the past five years to join its three older coal-fired power plants. Arkansas generates exactly zero megawatts of energy from solar or wind power while states all around us are able to do so. Instead of joining the clean-energy revolution, our people continue to suffer harm to our health and environment while missing out on new, good-paying jobs enjoyed by our neighbors in other states.

This year, we have a golden opportunity to change.

For the first time ever, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promulgating standards to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The EPA drafted its Clean Power Plan after being ordered to do so by the U.S. Supreme Court during the George W. Bush administration. The standards have been years in the making and, frankly, are long overdue as a way of combating the effects of climate disruption.

However, even those who choose to dispute the overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes of climate disruption should be pleased about the economic opportunities the Clean Power Plan offers. The plan gives Arkansas a great deal of flexibility on how to meet our carbon reduction goals. The Sierra Club believes that we can do this in a very smart way that will not only benefit the environment but will also create thousands of jobs for Arkansans.

Simply put, we have to transition away from our state’s three aging and dirty coal-fired power plants, invest in producing wind and solar energy and enact an aggressive energy-efficiency program that eliminates wasted electricity. Doing this the right way means a tidal wave of jobs for Arkansans: building and installing solar panels and wind turbines, installing energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting homes and businesses.

Opposition to the Clean Power Plan comes from those who benefit from the status quo. Whenever a positive environmental rule is proposed, you’ll see the same doomsayers claiming that the rule will result in huge rate increases, lost jobs and blackouts. We’ve heard this for decades, from utility leaders and the politicians beholden to them, yet the dark prophecies never happen. Our environment is cleaner today not because of utilities voluntarily cleaning up their acts. It’s because they were required to follow smart policies like those proposed by the Clean Power Plan.

In short, the Clean Power Plan is a chance to greatly benefit our state. Are we going to simply watch other states create cleaner energy sources and thousands of jobs for their citizens while we hang onto our outdated and dirty power plants? I know we can do better. If we put away the scare tactics and work together, the Natural State can, finally, live up to her potential.

Glen Hooks is director of the Sierra Club of Arkansas. Email him at Glen.Hooks@SierraClub.org.

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