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.... Kansas energy plan comes up short~ , .

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By KYl,E K, WETZELSpecial to The Star

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The Kansas State Energy Re-sources Coordination Council haspresented its Kansas Energy Plan '2003 to thelegislature. This docu- 'mentis a great disappointment.While states around us reshapetheir energyfutures with bold newpolicies to encourage renewable

energy and ener-gy efficiency; theKansas Council'sreport instead', primarily-sug-gests more stud-

, ies.Defenders ofthe council argue,'thatthe group

, hadless thanthree months to assemble its find-ings, but bold renewable energyand efficiency policies were omit-ted not because theywere not dis-cussed orunderstoodbythe coun~cil members. They-were opposedby a council, which former Gov. BillGraves stacked almost entirelywith representatives of th,e,state's,.oil, gas and utilities industries. Thiscomposition may reflect the pastandpresent of our state's energy

, situation; but not its future, 'Gov. Kathleen Sebelius should

move quickly to reformulate thecomposition ofthis council 10 in-clude more representatives fromthe renewable energy. conserva- I

r

Wetzel.

.tion and agricultural sectors and ing its relativelyuntappedrenew-demand from the council a bolder able energy resources- namelyproposal for om state's energyfu- wind and biomass - and export-ture.' , ingthat power to surroundingThe council's chairman, Lee Alii-, states. The Public Interest He-

, son, did invite several noncouncil 'search Group lastyearreleased a, members to serve in nonvoting, study ranking Kansas first among. advisory capacities on an ernerg- , all states in harnessable renewableing energytechnology subcom-' energy resource. But aggressivemittee. But his fiction reflects the energypoliciesrn surroundingfact that just 611eof 13voting, ' states will create greater demandmembers of the council represents ,~orrenewables there, siphoning offrenewable energy interests, and " 'much of ~JUrpotential renewablethe council includes no members' ,energy development.representing energy efficiency. en- ',. Texas, New Mexico, Iowa andvironmental or agricultural inter- . Minnesota have renewable portfo-ests, ' , . "_',,' lio standards or similarmandatesWhile' the activities of this coun - ",' -rhat.a certain percentage of the

cil may seem obscure to many; its '." states' electricity come from re- I

recommendations could have far-: , .:newable sources such as wind, so-reaching effects On our future. En-: Jarar biomass. Colorado, Okla-ergy - historically coal, oil and gas' ' :homa~ South Dakota and Nebraskaproduction - has long been a sig-: ..are considering such policies. Thenificant component ofourstate's , wirid energy speculation currentlyeconomy. The report lamentsthat : exciting Kansans could largely re-after decades of standing as a net "', main just that -- speculation ~'energy exporter, Kansas has now ", without progressive state policiesbecome a net importer of energy. 'here.Traditional oil and gas production; . But the onlyrecommendationswill be negligible in Kansas in an-' for immediate action by the 2003other 'generation. , ' . Legislature appearing in the report,The report makes much of ' ,':" , .are improving energy efficiency o(

, Kansas' coal-bed methane re- " ., istate buildirigs and updating thesources, butthese will riot be sig-· ,.I" !energy efficiency standards innificantlytapped during the next " "Kansas' building codes. Ainongfewyears, and it is not clear that " .' "J:econimehdations for immediatethey will eyer be significant cori-. , actionbythe council itself are for-tributors, marion of a task force to study theKansas will regain its status as an state's transmission needs forwind

energyexporter only by develop- energy and deterrniningways of

encouraging wind turbine manu- ,facturing in the state. " ,These are welcome, but small

gestures in comparison to the boldpolicies the COlIDCil«hose not to'recommend for immediate action.Items recommended by the coun-cil's emerging energysubcommit-tee inc1uded a renewable portfolio _standard for Kansas; net metering,,a policy adopted in 38 other statesthat requires that utilities pay retail ,Tates for surplus electricity pro-duced byrenewable energygener-ators owned by their customers; I

and aggressive demand-side man-agement programs such a'Stime-of-daypricingfor electricity to en-courage conservation. These werelisted merely as "studyitems."Such policies have been studied

- and, implemented ~ in otherstates and other nations for 20years. It goes without.saying thattheywould be studied further be-fore being implemented into ' ,Kansas law. Byhiding behind theneed for SUCll studies.however, thecouncil has lostthe opportunity to

; make a strong first statement. aboutwhatour state'senergyfu-turewill be.

Kyle K Wetzel is chairman oftheKansas Renewable Energy WorkingGroup and a member of the emerg-ing energy subcommittee of theKansas State Energy Resources Co- ,ordination COuncil. He lives in

. Lawrence.