ARNOLD BACKS U.S. NEW ENERGY

An unfair fight for renewable energies
Arnold Schwarzenegger, December 4, 2011 (Washington Post)

"…[I]t is absurd that our federal government spends tens of billions of dollars annually subsidizing the oil industry, which pulls diminishing resources from underground, while the industry focused above ground on wind, solar and other renewable energies is derided in Washington.

"Federal support for development of new energy sources is lower today than at any other point in U.S. history, and our government is forcing the ¬clean-energy sector into a competitive disadvantage. To bring true competition to the energy market, ensure our national security and create jobs here rather than in China or elsewhere, we must level the playing field for renewable energies…[W]e should not demonize fossil fuels…[But] support for energy innovation has always helped drive America’s growth."

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"Renewable energies, however, have not been treated the same way. When the oil, gas and nuclear industries were forming, federal support for those energies totaled as much as 1 percent of federal spending. Subsidies available to the renewables industry today are just one-tenth of 1 percent…[T]he conversation in Congress shouldn’t be about attacking green energy or cutting all oil subsidies…[It] should be about leveling the playing field so that renewables are bound by the same rules as fossil fuels. We must make it a national priority to clear the red tape and bureaucracy that puts renewables at a disadvantage…

"Imagine what the renewables industry would look like if the federal government leveled the playing field and showed the same dedication we have in California. Our green sector is the brightest spot in California’s economy, having grown 10 times faster than any other business sector since 2005. Today, one in every four jobs in the U.S. solar industry is in California. One-third of U.S. clean-tech venture capital flows into our state. Nurturing the green-tech sector was the right thing for me to do as governor, and it is the right thing for the federal government to do…"