Sun Is The Future

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Please help us to spread more sunshine by joining us at Solar-FIT For Sunshine State! Tell your state legislators to support Solar !

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Did you know that North Carolina Senate Finance Committee recently underhandedly passed a bill out of the Committee that would repeal the state’s successful renewable energy standard (Senate Bill 3)? Currently, only 13 states within USA have not yet adopted Renewable Energy Standard or Goal, according to Jan. 2012 report by North Carolina Center at North Carolina State University. On August 20, 2007, with the signing of Session Law 2007-397 (Senate Bill 3), North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to adopt a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS). Under this new law, investor-owned utilities in North Carolina will be required to meet up to 12.5% of their energy needs through renewable energy resources or energy efficiency measures and rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric suppliers are subject to a 10% REPS requirement by 2021. On February 29, 2008, the Commission issued an Order Adopting Final Rules implementing Senate  Bill 3. It was the first state in the Southeast to adopt such a standard-Senate Bill 3 passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support.  As a result of Senate Bill 3, clean energy companies have generated billions in revenue and created thousands of in-state jobs while reducing pollution and saving ratepayers money.

Today, solar/renewable energy is under assault. Organizations such as Heartland institute and the American Legislative Council, or ALEC, and Koch-backed Grover Norquist have been lobbying against renewable energy policy and pushing for “model legislation” to undo these standards. House Bill 298 or Senate Bill 365 , the “Affordable and Reliable Energy Act,” was introduced by the known ALEC member Representative Mike Hager and aims to fully repeal the energy standard. House Bill 298 is designed to stymie the growth of solar development in our country. I think it is done in such an underhanded way (instead of counting votes by show of hands, North Carolina Senators Bill Rabon & Bob Rucho had senators shout out their votes…wait a minute….even when “No” sounded louder and yet the motion still carried/passed….) , caught on video, below:

Senate Bill 3 has made North Carolina an emerging market for solar, wind, and methane gas production, created jobs and will ultimately save utility ratepayers money. Senator Josh Stein D- Wake commented that clean energy investors will avoid North Carolina if the Senate Bill 3 is tinkered with. North Carolina now has over 1,100 clean energy companies that have contributed $3.7 billion in annual gross revenue, leading to net gain of 21,162 jobs in five years. Furthermore, the renewable energy standard has lowered residential bills and allowing these savings more than doubled within a decade, with expected savings of up to $173 million to ratepayers. North Carolina is expected to move from fifth to fourth in the nation in solar energy development this year. “It’s an extraordinary success story that there’s an industry that hardly existed several years ago,” said Michael Shore, CEO of FLS Energy in Asheville.

Voters of North Carolina, Be Wary! Your rights and democratic process are being eroded. Your economic future is being stolen from right under your nose.  If you don’t do something now and/or in the near future, there won’t be much of a future left. Do not let your Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs be stolen from you! Voters everywhere, Be Wary! Without constant vigilance, there won’t be much of an economic prosperity or future for North Carolina or for any of the states within United States of America.

I’d like to end with my usual “~have a bright and sunny day~”, but I fear that there won’t be much more bright and sunny days if voters of North Carolina and elsewhere do not wake up and protect your/our democratic process from becoming eroded.

Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

Related article in Charlotte Observer: Sen. Josh Stein: ‘NC is not a banana republic.”

Any of your comments and suggestions are always welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net

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Tags: Affordable and Reliable Energy Act, ALEC, American Legislative Council, Bill Babon, FLS Energy in Asheville, Goose that laid the dolden eggs, Heartland Institute, House Bill 298, Koch-backed Grover Norquist, Michael Shore, Mike Hager, North Carolina, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, REPS, SB365, Senate Bill 3, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker

This entry was posted on Monday, May 6th, 2013 at 4:59 PM and is filed under News, Policies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.