USA : June 30, 2011
While America’s “Green Movement” is largely considered by most to be a modern invention, it has its roots in the intellectual thoughts of the 1830s and 40s which concentrated on preservation of natural resources, regulation of pollutants and a growing awareness of the environmental and health risks of the increased and largely unregulated use of chemicals and natural resources used in manufacturing and industry.
The movement gained considerable momentum in recent years and became more focused on the development of renewable energy sources. This focus was largely a result of a limited supply of gasoline, volatility in the energy market, soaring oil prices and the vulnerability of the United States fuel supply due to disruption in Middle East oil supplies. The events of 9/11 and the cost in lives and dollars of the subsequent wars served to provide a political platform for leaders on both sides of the aisle to put forth their agendas to “solve” the crisis of American dependence on foreign oil. Proposed solutions found support from different segments of the population largely along party lines, with Democrats primarily advocating for renewable energy R&D and Republicans for increased domestic production of traditional energy sources (i.e., “Drill Baby ,Drill”).
When President Obama took office after the 2008 elections, the tide turned towards renewable energy resulting in large increases in federal funding for all aspects of renewable energy. There was a predictable trickledown in funding to the state and local level which resulted in a glut of renewable energy start-up companies. These start-ups provided new, often temporary, jobs in this sector and seemed to many to be the beginning of a new era in American clean energy. Spiking oil costs and public condemnation of tax incentives for big oil companies served to increase positive public sentiment towards “green” solutions. Businesses, large and small, jumped on the “green” bandwagon, producing and marketing a plethora of “green” products and services, often at premium pricing, cashing in on the social trend.
Today, in the face of a sluggish economic recovery, high un-employment rates, the worsening housing crisis, and combined with the gradual decline in energy prices caused in part by the end of the Fed’s QE2 program, public support for federal funding of expensive and largely inefficient renewable energy has ebbed considerably. With the Federal deficit slated to exceed 1.5 trillion dollars during 2011, in the minds of many, long term environmental concerns must take a back seat to the more immediate need for spending cuts and debt reduction.
This renewed conservatism is clearly exhibited in the Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Funding Bill, published on June 15, 2011. This bill cuts President Obama’s requested budget by 5.9 billion dollars; about 1.9 billion of which was earmarked for investments in energy efficiency research, renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal, fuel conserving vehicles, weatherization and biomass. This would serve to reduce this funding to more than 40% below current spending levels and reduce overall federal sustainable energy funding to levels not seen since 2005.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers defends these cuts, saying “While providing for critical programs, this bill makes good on our promise to cut spending to more sustainable levels. We’ve made smart and significant spending reductions in areas that have seen massive and unnecessary increases.” This point of view is vehemently protested by Colorado Democrat Rep. Jared Polis: “The…funding bill is another glaring example of the widening gap between Republican rhetoric and reality. We need a new American energy policy that will lower prices for families, reduce our reliance on dirty, foreign energy and increase our energy independence.” Democrats also point out that the cuts are roughly the same size as the federal tax breaks for the big oil companies that Republicans have vowed to uphold even in the face of public anger and outcry over sharply increased oil and gas prices that resulted in record first quarter profits for the big oil companies.
The bill will be considered by the full House after Independence Day and it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary setback in the funding of renewable energy technology and development due to the current economic crisis, or the beginning of the end of the “Green” era in America.