ERIC NOST is a fellow at Environment Iowa. Contact:
[log in to unmask] • December 8, 2009 
President Barack Obama and former Gov. Tom Vilsack - now U.S. agriculture
secretary - will attend the climate conference this week in Copenhagen to
enlist nations around the world in an effort to meaningfully confront
global climate change.

Here in Iowa, the largest contribution to the climate problem is by far
the carbon dioxide emitted by coal power plants. That coal continues to
dominate our energy portfolio - generating three-fourths of our
electricity - is a significant setback to any solution. Still, there has
been notable progress as of late. Earlier this year, proposals to build
two new plants in Marshalltown and Waterloo were scrapped.
Building them would have been disastrous. Now, it's imperative that we
clean up the coal plants that already exist.

The state is home to a fleet of aging, and thus, inefficient power
plants. Environment Iowa recently released a report that found that among
these are Alliant's Dubuque Generating Station, the nation's fifth
oldest. Most of the facility dates to the 1940s and 1950s.

The single biggest emitter was MidAmerican Energy's Walter Scott Jr.
Energy Center in Council Bluffs. It released nearly 10 million pounds of
carbon dioxide in 2007, which is enough to place it among the top 70 most
polluting power plants nationwide. Most of the electricity produced there
comes from generators that are at least 30 years old and from some that
were built in 1954 and 1958.
The answer to aging, inefficient coal plants isn't to build new ones.
Instead, we should power the economy by utilizing our abundant natural
resources - sunny hillsides and windy farmsteads - and by making strides
in energy efficiency. However, the Register downplayed the economic
benefits of these possibilities recently ("Green Jobs Offer Limited Hope
to Iowa," Nov. 22).

The article notes that the green-job sector is highly dependent on policy
mandates. That may be true, but it's due to enormous federal subsidies
for coal and nuclear industries, which limit the ability of wind and
solar to effectively compete and which restrict much incentive to make
homes and buildings a lot more efficient.
The Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2007 the coal and
nuclear industries received about $4.5 billion in subsidy and support,
more than four times the amount allocated to renewables. That's
unfortunate, because investments in clean energy can provide 40 percent
more jobs than similar investments in coal. In fact, the green sector
here already employs more Iowans than the coal industry. The Pew Center
on the States and the Pew Environment Group counted 7,702 green jobs in
the state in 2007. The National Mining Association, on the other hand,
notes that the coal economy employs only a little fewer than 2,000
Iowans.
We can move away from coal and toward solar, wind and efficiency while
successfully creating even more jobs. When it comes to energy efficiency
alone, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy estimates
that by 2020 we will have created about 6,200 more jobs here if strong
efficiency provisions are included in comprehensive climate and energy
legislation. Thus far, Congress has failed to deliver such legislation to
Obama's desk, even as he prepares to negotiate an international treaty in
Copenhagen. We cannot forget the awesome responsibility that falls upon
our nation to lead a treaty that compels the international community to
take action before it is too late.
That burden currently falls upon the Senate. In the compromising that
will undoubtedly take place in the months to come, Sens. Tom Harkin and
Charles Grassley should advocate for a bill that both retains the
authority of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act
to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide that our power plants are
allowed to emit and advances investment in solar, wind and efficiency.
Those are the next steps in addressing Iowa's contribution to global
warming and transitioning our state to a clean energy economy
____________________________________________________________
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