Tennessee's next step toward CLEAN ENERGY may follow the lead of North Carolina

Tennes-Sierran
The monthly newsletter for the Tennessee Chapter Sierra Club Volume 36, Number 11 - November 2005

Tennessee's next step toward

CLEAN ENERGY

may follow the lead of North Carolina

by Emily Saunders
Climate and Air Program Coordinator -
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

The Issue
The problems of global warming are facing us more and more everyday. With the two most recent hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil shortages, we are being forced to recognize our link in the chain of global warming pollution. There is no doubt global warming pollution emissions are increasing globally and in the U.S. as well. With increased global warming pollution comes an increased mean surface temperature of our planet and climate destabilization. The planet's natural greenhouse effect is being exacerbated by pollution from the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity and to drive our automobiles.

The vast majority of scientists and climate experts believe global warming pollution is a serious human-caused planetary affliction causing and exacerbating numerous environmental and social problems. Decision-makers from around the world are beginning to take action to address global warming pollution. In February 2005 the first international agreement to reduce global warming pollution, known as the Kyoto Protocol, came into force. In the United States our federal government, under the Bush administration, continues to deny the seriousness of the problem and refuses to take meaningful steps to reduce emissions. The United States and Australia are the only two developed countries to not have joined the Kyoto protocol. The refusal of the US, the world's largest emitter of global warming pollution, to engage with the international community remains a serious problem, but there is hope.

State and local governments are moving forward to take action to reduce emissions. Most of these activities are taking place in the more progressive Northeast and West coast. However, in August of 2005, Tennessee's neighboring state, North Carolina, passed landmark legislation through the General Assembly to address global warming pollution from all sources. This legislation creates a stakeholder commission to understand the sources and policy solutions for global warming in North Carolina.

An impressive array of folks from the faith community, academics, business people, editorial boards, other environmental groups, and individual citizens got behind the need for climate action in North Carolina. With the help of this broad-based support, the NC Senate and House passed the bill in July and then again in August after revisions, with significant bipartisan support and huge vote margins. The bill was signed into law by Governor Easley on September 27, 2005 - the first of its kind in the southeast.

"The four Southeastern states Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida together rank 7th in the world for global warming pollution contributed."

Tennessee has an opportunity to join North Carolina and demonstrate leadership on this critical issue. The four Southeastern states Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida together rank 7th in the world for global warming pollution contributed. Tennessee ranks 16th among all the States and 46th in the world for the most global warming pollution. For carbon dioxide alone (which predominantly comes from coal-fired power plants), Tennessee ranks 14th nationally with 64 million tons of CO2 emitted annually.

One way Tennessee can take action is by creating a state climate action plan, or a stakeholder commission like North Carolina. A plan or commission would cause the state to conduct an investigation on the global warming impacts projected to occur in Tennessee and determine the full breadth of pollution sources across the state. The plan would also make suggestions for actions the state could take to reduce global warming pollutants in win-win scenarios to boost the economy and create new jobs in a variety of sectors from agriculture to technology development. States that see the retooling of their economy in a world that is serious about reducing global warming emissions will gain competitive advantage in the years to come. Tennessee is well-positioned. We have several important renewable energy suppliers in our state, like Sharp Solar in Memphis, the largest producer of photovoltaic panels in the United States. Several companies supporting Sharp's growing factory are scatted throughout the state. A large wind power tower manufacture, Aerisyn, opened shop this fall in Chattanooga.

Tennessee is home of two major institutions, TVA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, that with leadership could help blaze the trail for development and deployment of new energy technologies. Enormous gains are to be made in energy efficiency in our state because we have not seen a serious effort for energy efficiency in over two decades. Energy efficiency creates jobs and saves people money on their utility bills. A major player in efforts to reduce emissions will be the agriculture and forestry sectors. Soils and forest will become important stores for carbon. Tennessee has the potential to be a major supplier of biofuels like biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol. All these opportunities and others will be available to Tennessee if we take action and develop a plan to capture them.

Why Tennessee Gets to Take Action
Tennessee faces numerous impacts from global warming. Impacts to the natural climate cycle could add significant stress to the spruce-fir forests in the Appalachian Mountains, which are already struggling from acid rain, ground level ozone pollution and exotic pests. Our forested areas could become dominated by pine and scrub oaks, replacing many of the eastern hardwoods common in our forests today. Tennessee has immensely diverse ecosystems, including wetlands, high-elevation forests and glades, oak-hickory forests, grasslands, and caves. The Mississippi delta reaches as far north as the western part of Tennessee where it supports almost five times the biodiversity of upland areas. All of these systems are sensitive to climatic factors.