Green New Deal sparks calls for action from industry, advocates, lawmakers

PHILADELPHIA — While the Green New Deal has stirred up a significant amount of controversy, it’s time to discuss actions the federal government should take to address climate change, experts on a panel at the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) annual convention held here earlier this week said.

“Again, I don’t want to get trapped in the rhetoric of Green New Deal, no Green Deal, whatever,” U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) said. “Let’s get it done. I embrace many of the principles in the Green New Deal, but let’s go forward and develop in a science-based, evidence-based way the best policies that take us forward.”

Rich Powell, executive director of clean energy advocate ClearPath, told panel attendees that he recently testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change and the House Ways and Means Committee and described the consensus surrounding climate change at those hearings.

“I think that there was generally consensus that climate change is real, that global-industrial activities from anthropogenic sources human sources is a significant contributor to that and that the federal government ought to take significant ambitious action beyond what it’s doing now to tackle that challenge,” Powell said.

“And so now I think we’re in a space where we can begin to move from a vigorous discussion about whether there is a problem meriting federal action to a vigorous discussion about the right solutions to that problem,” he continued.

The Green New Deal doesn’t contain specific policy prescriptions but instead describes various goals, including meeting 100 percent of U.S. power demand through clean, renewable and zero-emissions energy sources, said Aliya Haq, director of the Climate and Clean Energy Program’s Federal Policy Group at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Moderator Thomas Farrell, chairman, president and CEO of Dominion Energy, asked the panelists what one policy they think could make the most significant impact on climate change issues.

Tonko, Haq and Sarah Ladislaw, senior vice president and director of the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said they would choose carbon pricing but emphasized that fully addressing the climate crisis requires a broad array of solutions. Tonko said that sector-specific efforts should be introduced alongside carbon pricing.

Powell, meanwhile, discussed a technology-inclusive tax credit that covers all clean and low-emission energy technologies.

“So, again, thinking about this problem as a global problem, I would argue that the most important thing is to make clean energy cheaper, not traditional energy more expensive,” Powell said.

Tonko acknowledged that implementing carbon pricing would be challenging but discussed several ongoing and potential future efforts related to energy sector research and development, energy efficiency, infrastructure, workforce development and tax policy.

The panelists also discussed the role of nuclear energy, including its zero-emissions benefits and the current economic challenges associated with nuclear plants.

The congressman ended the panel by discussing the impact of the Green New Deal and calling for action on climate issues.

“… I think we’ve come to a watershed moment where the public consciousness and awareness has reached a tipping point, which is one of the virtues of the Green New Deal,” he said. “Look at everyone in this room talking about it with a sense of urgency. So, there’s good to everything, and the good has been it has pushed us to have this community-wide discussion as a nation, as a world, and let’s go forward with science on our side, not rejecting science, because we’re going to be in deep trouble if we do.”