The Koch Brothers' propaganda and canned legislation machine, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) suffered a rare defeat in Ohio according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The corporate backed lobby group rolled out a legislation package erroneously named the "Electricity Freedom Act". The pre-packaged legislation was aimed at rolling back renewable electricity standards adopted by states to require utilities to generate electricity using certain percentages of renewable energy like wind and solar. ALEC got their biased legislation introduced in about a dozen state legislatures this year. However, ALEC was unable to convince any state government to repeal renewable energy standards thanks to UCS and other clean energy advocates. They flooded legislators' offices with information about renewable energy that showed utilities are meeting their renewable goals with little or no cost to consumers. The counter lobbying help defeat ALEC's fossil friendly legislation in Ohio where one corporate-sponsored legislator said Ohio's renewable energy legislation was akin to "Stalin's five-year plan". Minnesota went Ohio one better adding a new solar requirement to its renewable standards. ALEC does not take no for an answer, especially on its fortieth anniversary. It will launch another round of attacks in Ohio despite the latest report from Michigan which shows that state's renewable energy standards are working.
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| Cleveland, 1887: first automatic wind turbine |
Republican Governor Rick Snyder released a report saying the state can increase its reliance on renewable energy to 30% or more by 2035 and still maintain cost-effective, reliable electrical energy. The report also concluded that the current standards are attracting significant investment to Michigan, as well as job growth in clean energy industries. Renewable energy costs are far lower than originally anticipated and performing better than expected according to the Michigan governor's office. Despite the science-based evidence that green power works well, the United States is far behind Germany, which recently hit a 59% peak in green power production as a nation, thanks to the malignant influence of the fossil fuel industry in the United States. Is Germany's unquestionable commitment to green energy one reason our corporatist government is spying on Chancellor Merkle? Inquiring minds want to know!