Midwest Clean Energy Proposal Sets New, High National Standard, Groups Say

Roadmap Plan Generates Diverse Support from Industry, Environmentalists and Labor, as Midwestern Governors Meet on Jobs and Energy

For Immediate Release: October 7, 2009

DETROIT, MI — A blueprint for making robust investments in clean energy and energy efficiency — shaped jointly by utilities, environmental and farm groups, industry, labor unions, and state government — would catapult the Midwest ahead of other regions in generating economic development from technologies that combat global warming, according to observers of the Midwestern Governors Association's (MGA) Jobs and Energy Forum Wednesday.

At the forum in Detroit, representatives from utilities, agriculture and other Midwestern businesses, as well as organized labor and environmental groups championed the MGA Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Roadmap, a document adopted by the Midwestern Governors Association in conjunction with this week's Forum.

"The Roadmap has the potential to set a new precedent nationally for investment in efficiency and clean energy resources," said Keith Reopelle, Senior Policy Director for Clean Wisconsin. "The document reflects the collective input and agreement among constituencies that have not always been on the same side of the table, from power companies to environmental groups, to the manufacturing sector, to labor unions. But we've all united behind the opportunity to generate jobs and revenue by expanding our use of energy-saving technologies; clean fuels, such as wind and solar power; and a low-carbon fuel standard."

State laws requiring utilities to draw 25 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2025, while using energy efficiency to reduce annual electricity use by 2 percent and annual natural gas use by 1.5 percent, are among the measures recommended in the Roadmap. The document was developed after nine Midwestern states and two Canadian provinces adopted the MGA's Energy and Climate Stewardship Platform in 2007, an agreement that aimed for major regional reductions in carbon pollution. The MGA assembled four working groups, comprising delegates from industry, non-governmental organizations, labor, agriculture and other sectors, to formulate proposals for achieving the goals of the 2007 agreement, a process that culminated in the Roadmap.

The broad support that has coalesced around the roadmap should bolster efforts to pass federal energy and climate legislation in Congress, according to Zoe Lipman, Senior Analyst, Energy and Climate Policy, at the National Wildlife Federation and member of one of the MGA's advisory groups.

"The fact that this roadmap was embraced by so many diverse interest groups should send a strong signal to Congress that there is support in the heartland for legislation that will reduce carbon pollution and unleash the untapped economic power of our clean energy economy," Lipman said.

The document prescribes methods that could reinvent the region from what is currently the world's fourth-largest source of carbon pollution to a center of clean energy manufacturing. The Midwest produces many of the technologies and grows the crops that would propel the clean energy revolution.

According to an analysis of data compiled by the Energy Information Administration, an estimated $226 billion leaves the region's economy each year to pay for imported fuels, including coal, natural gas and petroleum.

"By redirecting even a fraction of the $226 billion in energy imports that now leaves the region, Midwestern states stand to gain significant economic benefits and job creation opportunities while becoming a leader in energy-efficiency and the development of home-grown renewable energy technologies," said Charles Griffith, Clean Vehicles and Fuels Director for the Michigan-based Ecology Center.

"This effort also complements the work of the auto industry to bring efficient advanced technology vehicles to market, another means of capturing green jobs in the Midwest," said Mary Culler, of Ford Motor Company, and advisory group member.

Several recent studies have calculated that the Midwest would gain tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs with a major investment in clean energy technology.

In a letter sent earlier this month to the governors who signed the 2007 energy accord, a number of the groups urged their states to implement the measures highlighted in the plan, including:

Immediately call for state legislation to establish or upgrade Renewable Energy Standards (RES) that require utilities to acquire at least 25% of their electric energy from renewable resources by 2025 and 30% by 2030.
Immediately address transmission issues including inter-jurisdictional siting and cost and revenue allocation that are threatening to hinder renewable energy development in the Midwest.
Immediately takes steps, through legislation and/or executive action, to establish statewide energy efficiency goals of a minimum reduction of 2% electricity and 1.5% natural gas usage by 2015. Policies should require utilities to achieve these levels of efficiency and conservation or fund statewide programs that achieve them, or a combination of both.
Immediately act to adopt the most recent residential and commercial building codes and automatically increase those codes to match the national model codes in subsequent years.
Adopt Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) in each state in line with the regional LCFS being developed as part of the Roadmap process.
Improve transportation efficiency by setting goals to reduce vehicle-miles traveled, reforming planning and funding practices for infrastructure, providing better transit and other green transportation choices, and by encouraging mileage-based auto insurance

Meanwhile, the groups also urged action on global warming pollution. A similar, broad Advisory Group appointed by the Midwestern Governors made recommendations in June on the structure of a cap and trade program. This plan would deeply cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect consumers and industry, while making robust investments in efficiency, and clean energy and transportation technologies. The groups said the pragmatic and politically viable consensus found in the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord could help inform and speed finalization of federal climate change legislation.

"Execution of the strategies, policies and programs laid out at this meeting will substantially alter energy use in the Midwest and result in a disproportionate number of jobs being created here within that emerging sector," said John Biondi, President of C5-6 Technologies.

# # #

For press questions, please contact:

Emily Blum, Valerie Denney Communications: 312-408-2580
Jordan Lubetkin, National Wildlife Federation, Cell: 734-904-1589