State may develop energy plan
HARRISBURG – This winter looks cold and expensive, and Pennsylvanians are largely at the mercy of a global energy market and far away natural disasters that hit home with spiking fuel costs. With that in mind, some Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to develop a comprehensive energy plan that will help the state gain some control over its energy supplies and usage.
Nothing has yet been proposed. But in the first of a yearlong series of meetings Tuesday at the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, lawmakers heard what other states are accomplishing.
New York requires all major energy suppliers to submit 20-year forecasts and every state agency must implement the state’s energy plan, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
North Carolina’s energy council is recommending a market-based trading system for greenhouse gas emissions, and support of businesses that develop products that improve energy efficiency.
And a number of other states are finding ways to encourage the use of local and alternative fuel sources, add generation, and help research and new technologies. Pennsylvania is on the forefront in some of these areas, having passed standards last year that would make clean energy sources account for 18 percent of the state’s energy production by 2020.
But Delaware County Republican William Adolph, chairman of the energy committee, said Pennsylvania could be doing more with a comprehensive plan. Pennsylvania exports more energy supplies than it uses.
“I think we’re going to pull everything together and make sure we are using all our home resources here in Pennsylvania,” he said. “We’re blessed with natural resources that we can develop into energy and we can use that.”
Adolph said he’d also like to see conservation encouraged and support of energy research at state universities. He said the goal of the meetings would be new legislation.
The meetings began just after the U.S. Department of Energy released its latest energy report. Ellen Lutz, the DOE’s regional director in Philadelphia, said gas prices will drop slightly in December to a nationwide average of $2.73 per gallon. But natural gas prices are expected to rise by 51 percent in the Northeast, winter heating oil by over 30 percent, and electricity costs by 11 percent in this colder-than-normal winter, according to Lutz.
Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery County, wondered whether there’s a way to compel U.S. petroleum companies to sell locally, instead of to other nations.
In a sign of how difficult it is, in some ways, to develop energy independence, Lutz responded that the system is free market.
“DOE has absolutely no control. We do not negotiate with oil companies,” she said.
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or ahawkes@calkins-media.com