This coming Election Day, Missourians will choose not only the President of the United States and the next Governor, but they will also have the chance to vote “yes” or “no” on several ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments. One of these ballot initiatives would mandate Missouri’s electric utilities generate or purchase more energy through renewable resources.
Proposition C, also known as the Missouri Clean Energy Initiative, would affect Missouri’s three investor-owned utility companies: Ameren, based out of St. Louis; Kansas City Power & Light; and Empire District Power Company in Joplin.
A “yes” vote would legally force these three companies to increase their production of renewable energy.
The increased production of renewable energy would come gradually. By 2011, electric utilities would have to produce or purchase at least five percent of their energy from renewable resources. By 2021, each utility would have to produce or purchase at least fifteen percent of its energy from renewable resources.
Solar power generation is required to make up two percent of all retail electricity. In addition, utility rates can only increase by one percent.
The organization Missourians For Cleaner Cheaper Energy wrote the proposition. Spokesman Tony Wyche says Prop C is nothing new or groundbreaking. Missouri is simply getting on board with a growing national trend. “Twenty-six states in America have passed electricity standards like this,” he says. “We know that it works because it works for over half of the country.”
Supporters add that Prop C will not only help reduce dependence on foreign oil. They like to point out that other states will similar laws attract wind turbine manufactures, solar plants, and other industries. Wyche, who was once a Democratic Party spokesperson, says that it will bring in stable, high-paying jobs and new investments into the economy.
Surprisingly, there is no organized opposition against Proposition C. It may be even more surprising that one of Missouri’s largest investor-owned energy providers, Kansas City Power & Light, has voiced its support for the initiative.
Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) already produces 2.6 percent of its retail electricity through renewable means. That allows the company to meet Prop C’s requirement through 2013. Even better, according to spokesperson Chuck Caisley, KCP&L is pursuing the addition of 400 addition megawatts of wind power within the next four years. “Once that is installed we will be at about eleven to twelve percent of our electric sales from renewable resources by 2012, which is nine years ahead of the mandate in Proposition C.”
KCP&L has taken an aggressive approach to renewable energy. They have a written agreement with the Sierra Club to invest in renewable power. The company also conducted an analysis with customers five years ago. In it, KCP&L found that customers were very interested in wind and solar energy, as well as retro-fitting coal plants. “Instead of fighting with folks in our communities who are concerned about the environment,” Caisley says, “KCP&L has chosen to collaborate with them and find solutions that work for both groups.”
While Kansas City Power & Light is on the record with their support of Prop C, Empire District and Ameren have both remained neutral. Of these two, Empire District is better positioned to meet the mandates. The Joplin-based company currently purchases energy from Elk River Wind Farms and has plans to begin receiving energy from Meridian Way Wind Farm. This would account for fifteen percent of Empire District’s retail electricity by next year.
“We will be way ahead of the game,” says Empire District director of corporate communications, Amy Bass. Even though Empire District faces no serious downsides as a result of Prop C, she says that the company decided to remain neutral due to other objections. “We do strongly believe that if it is a good thing for Missouri it shouldn’t just be the investor-owned utilities. This should also encompass the municipalities and the co-ops.”
While Ameren does not support Proposition C, the St. Louis-based utility is not actively campaigning against it. Ameren spokesperson Mike Cleary states that his company’s concern is that Prop C is not the best plan for Missouri. Ameren prefers Senate Bill 54, also known as the Green Power Initiative, which was passed in 2007. The difference is that the Green Power Initiative, which was signed by Governor Matt Blunt, set voluntary targets instead of mandates. These targets were lower than Prop C’s mandates. “We believe they are much more realistic for our climate and the availability of renewables in Missouri,” Cleary says.
Unlike KCP&L and Empire District, Ameren feels that Missouri is not a good state for renewable energy. Cleary states that the climate is not as favorable as in other parts of the country. He also notes that Ameren is at a geographic disadvantage compared to KCP&L or Empire District. “The most practical areas for wind power development are in Northeast Missouri and Northwest Missouri. These are not close to where our customers who need the power are actually located.”
Though Ameren claims to be at a geographic disadvantage, Tony Wyche of Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy says that it’s all a matter of the other electric companies being more proactive with their renewable power programs. “This is something that Ameren can do because they are actually promoting and marketing their own renewable energy program to their own consumers,” he says. “So it’s clearly something that they think is a profitable enterprise for themselves and so it seems as though it’s something that they should be able to do for their rate-payers.”
If passed, The Missouri Clean Energy Initiative would be enforced by the Missouri Public Service Commission. While the commission itself has remained neutral on Prop C, Chairman Jeff Davis’s personal view is that it is not economically or technologically feasible to produce fifteen percent of power by 2021 with renewables. He also questions if the initiative is lawful, partially due to Prop C’s one-percent rate increase cap. “Can you compel a utility to pay for generation and then not allow them to recover all of their prudently incurred costs? And that is the law in the state of Missouri.”
Davis, who was chief-of-staff for Peter Kinder when he was President Pro Tem of the Missouri Senate, differs with supporters of Prop C on the number of jobs that the initiative would create. Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy claims that 50,000 good-paying jobs will come to the state. Davis feels that is an enormous miscalculation. He says that the average wind farm that produces 300 megawatts employs around 50 people. “If we need to add 3000 megawatts as a state of wind and solar, I think you’re looking at maybe 500 or 600 jobs in this sector total, and that’s it.”
Tony Wyche, the Missourians for Cleaner Cheaper Energy spokesperson, says that the new jobs won’t all be wind farm employees. Instead, the initiative should bring in manufacturing jobs related to renewable energy, such as wind turbine and solar panel manufacturers. It will also spark addition revenue for municipal coffers. Wyche points out a case of some already operating wind farms in Northwest Missouri. “There are counties that have received over half-a-million dollars in property tax payments, the majority of which are going to their schools.” He adds, “This is something that can generate a lot of economic investment in the state and make it a research and manufacturing hub for renewable energy in the Midwest and a leader on renewable energy in the country.”
Missouri voters will have a chance to vote YES or NO on Proposition C on Tuesday. A YES vote approves the proposition, meaning that Missouri’s utilities will have to increase their production of renewable energy. A NO vote rejects the initiative and does not impose renewable energy mandates on Missouri’s investor-owned utilities.
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