Federalism seen threatening US clean energy future, timely action on climate

Washington — On the current trajectory, the US will run out of time before it can achieve the clean energy vision seen as vital to mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, the head of a Washington think tank said Sept. 10.

During a panel discussion at the Edison Electric Institute's virtual leadership summit, Jason Grumet, founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank, predicted the US would solve the technology problems currently standing in the way of deep decarbonization but "fail the democracy challenge."

Despite climate change being a global problem requiring national solutions, climate decisions in the US are overwhelmingly made at the state and local level, creating a federalism challenge, Grumet said. He asserted that "the only way we're going to get this done in time" is with federal authority.

That said, he contended that governors, mayors and state legislators would need to get on board with the notion of a shared national commitment and "recognize that every region of the country is going to have to be making a contribution to that success, or we will not succeed in time to avoid what are, I think, untenable impacts of a changing climate."

Grumet offered that "a shared national commitment to a serious climate solution that responds not just to science but also to economics and engineering" could get the US beyond fights over infrastructure projects and siting and on a path "to get things done and not run out of time."

Panelists agreed that delivering a clean energy future would require new infrastructure at a time when siting natural gas pipelines and electric transmission lines has never been more difficult.

There are no easy answers or silver bullets to smooth over these permitting challenges, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Tony Clark said. However, it will be incumbent on project developers to relay the value of energy "infrastructure projects to policymakers so they make wise decisions with regard to setting the rules of the road."

'Honest brokers'

"Companies have to be honest brokers of information so they can provide the public with a sense of the trade-offs that exist in the energy industry," said Clark, who is now a senior advisor at the law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer.

Anyone suggesting that the energy transition will be easy, fast, cheaper or worry-free "is selling a bit of a fairy tale," but energy companies' honesty about investment options can go a long way to reducing project opposition and assuring the transition is made in the most affordable, reliable way possible, Clark said.

He added that some infrastructure project development woes are tied to broader debate and opposing schools of thought over the way the electricity sector should achieve deep decarbonization goals.

Supporters of what he called the school of scale advocate for new, large installations of renewables hooked up by transmission lines and backed up by gas-fired generators, along with retention of the existing nuclear fleet. Those adhering to the deep disaggregation school of thought support extensive use of distributed energy resources combined with "really pushing the pedal to the metal on energy efficiency, demand response, and renewables at the distribution level, like rooftop solar," Clark said.

Role for gas

Although there is growing pushback on the use of gas, Sean Trauschke, president and CEO of OGE Energy and its utility subsidiary Oklahoma Gas and Electric, said the fuel, for the near term, would play an important role in its cleaner energy transition.

"Today, in most areas, we do not have a technology that's economic and dispatchable," Trauschke said. "That doesn't mean we won't get there, but while we're making this journey to that point, we're going to need fuel sources like natural gas to bridge that gap."

He said his company is deploying more renewables and energy storage resources and exploring opportunities for hydrogen as it looks for cleaner electricity sources and technologies to fulfill customers' power needs. "But until we get to that point where we've got something that is economic and dispatchable, it's going to be hard to eliminate a resource such as natural gas."

Grumet said utilities need to make future generation fleet plans clear to ease the environmental community's anxiety that gas use by the power sector would lock in a high-carbon history and scuttle plans for transitioning to a net-zero future.

Changing the negative narrative currently associated with gas will also require actions to address methane issues and demonstrate more environmentally friendly production practices, he said.