Governor Beshear's plan for cleaner energy and more jobs

The governor unveiled the state's very first comprehensive energy plan Nov. 20, 2008. The nearly 150 page plan, called "Intelligent Energy Choices for Kentucky's Future," calls for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions, increased coal research and the creation of 40,000 jobs in the energy sector by 2025.

He said his energy plan is in line with President Barack Obama's. Part of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's plan calls for ensuring that 10 percent of America's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025.

Rep. Rocky Adkins and Sen. Robert Stivers have made legislation designed for the state to invest more in technology, energy production and research. The governor's plan also is in line with those efforts.

Coal and other fossil fuels will continue to be the core of Kentucky's energy production needs. The governor's plan calls for diversification, conservation and efficiency to reduce demand and as more dependence on renewable and alternative sources.

"One of the major challenges that we face in the US and around the world is very significant carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions in terms of contributing to global warming," Len Peters, Secretary of Gov. Beshear's Energy and Environment Cabinet, said.

Peters said 90 percent of Kentucky's electricity is generated by coal, which is the primary producer of greenhouse gasses in the US and around the world.

Fifty percent of the nation's energy comes from coal.

"Obviously we are not quite double the national average in generating greenhouse gasses as a result of carbon dioxide," Peters said. "We're sixth or seventh."

Nuclear energy does not produce carbon dioxide emissions, Peters said.

By 2025, 25 percent of Kentucky's energy needs may be provided by the use of renewable and alternative energy sources, including wind and solar power and biofuels, as well as conservation. The governor called for Kentucky to encourage the conversion of coal into synthetic natural gas.

He said the state should push for the development of ways to dispose of carbon wastes from coal by piping them underground.

"In Kentucky, we don't have much," Chris Perry, CEO of Fleming Mason Energy said at February's Morehead Chamber of Commerce meeting. "There's a reason we went to coal. Because we live in the coalfields, it's cheap, it's been cheap. If you go back and look at President Carter and Nixon and them, guess what they were encouraging. They were encouraging us to use coal, so we did. Now, potentially we're about to be punished for what we make.

"The legislation may come to where coal becomes very prohibitive but natural gas is the same way and those are really the bulk of what the state generates."

Solar panels are expensive but becoming more affordable. However, a lot of carbon dioxide is used during the making of solar panels. Solar panels are 7 percent efficient, whereas coal is 15 percent.

Kentucky will need 40 percent more energy by 2030.

Perry presented statistics based on surveys that Fleming Mason gave to its customers across the country.

About 80 percent of Kentuckians believe global warming is a serious problem. Nearly 70 percent do not want to pay much money, if any, to help solve the problem.

Perry said in an interview, there is no doubt that Kentuckians will face hardship if the state starts relying on nuclear energy.

Nuclear power plants are essentially double the cost of a coal plant.

"A typical home, on peak, will use about 10 kilowatts," he said. "For a nuclear plant, each kilowatt costs about $8,000 to build. So that's $80,000 worth of nuclear power plant just to supply your home. If we have to build that new, that's very expensive."

Kentucky faces a $456 million shortfall this budget year.

Governor Beshear said his diverse energy plan will potentially help the economy recover both locally and nationally.

His plan calls for roughly 40,000 energy related jobs.

Although the governor is moving forward with nuclear energy plans, state law prohibits nuclear power construction until America builds a permanent disposal site for radioactive nuclear waste.

Nuclear energy became illegal in Kentucky following an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania. Three Mile Island is considered the most serious accident in US Commercial nuclear power history.

Unit 2 of TMI's reactor core partially melted on March 28,1979 due to equipment malfunctions, design related problems and worker errors, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The TMI-2 reactor is permanently shut down.

"The technologies today are much better than in the 60s and 70s," Peters said. "Nuclear energy is one of the safest electric generating technologies available."

One lawmaker who pushed for Kentucky's ban on nuclear energy is ready to embrace the idea.

State Rep. Harry Moberly said it is time to take a fresh look at the issue.

State Sen. Bob Leeper unsuccessfully introduced legislation in early 2008 to lift Kentucky's ban on nuclear power.

If the law changes, Leeper said the state should expect many requests to build nuclear plants.

The federal Energy Department applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a disposal site for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert.

"Yucca Mountain's no closer to being done and approved than it ever was," Perry said.

He said the government needs to fund more research projects on how to properly dispose of carbon dioxide.

There are 104 operating nuclear power plants in the US.

"We have, over the past couple of years, received applications for new plants," Diane Screni, Spokeswoman for the NRC, said. "Those applications are under review. We would need to approve those applications before construction."

There are 17 applications for nuclear power plants on file at the NRC, dated back to Sept. 20, 2007. The NRC expects five more applications between 2009 and 2010.

The last plant that was constructed was in Wattsbarr, Tenn. in 1996.

Peters said several companies have suggested that they would be interested in building nuclear plants in Kentucky but did not identify the utility companies.

"We'd be talking in great detail with electric suppliers in the Commonwealth," he said. "It's an exhaustive and extensive process to begin to identify possible locations."

The private sector and electric generating companies would decide where to locate a nuclear plant.

Peters said the Governor's team is trying to decide the best way to converse with Kentuckians about embracing nuclear energy.

"The decision could be made, when you look at the pros and cons, that nuclear energy isn't right for Kentucky," he said. "That's a very distinct possibility."

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