BCW Goes to Washington to Make the Business and Economic Case for Clean Energy

BCW Executive Vice President and COO John Ravitz recently joined businesspeople from across the country for an advocacy trip in DC organized by the nonpartisan business group E2. A member of the BCW Clean Energy Taskforce, E2 makes the business and the economic case for clean energy and climate action at both the federal and state levels. (Learn more at www.e2.org).  

In Washington, John and E2 met with Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and House, including Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17) to urge action on grid reliability and electricity affordability by ensuring wind and solar projects are treated fairly in the permitting process. Here is John’s report on the meeting.

As electricity prices and expected energy demand both skyrocket, it is not a partisan issue to say that now is not the time to be taking energy resources off the table—yet that is exactly what is happening in Washington.

Wind and solar energy, even without tax incentives, remain the fastest and cheapest sources of new power in much of the U.S. and are likely the only technologies that can be deployed quickly enough to meet surging demand. Despite this, federal agencies—from the Department of the Interior to the Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Defense—have used their authority to block projects.

The Department of the Interior alone now requires wind and solar applicants to obtain sign-off from the agency head for each of 69 separate permitting requirements. No other industry has ever faced such a burden. With decisions stalled at the top, projects are left in limbo indefinitely.

This matters for Westchester County. Clean energy is helping to diversify our local economy. The BCW’s Clean Energy Action Coalition has 120 members whose businesses are all engaged in the renewable energy sector. More broadly, all new businesses depend on reliable, affordable power. If Westchester wants to attract investment, it needs both.

Putting clean energy and storage projects on ice will mean higher prices and a less reliable grid—locally and nationally—especially since natural gas infrastructure faces a five-year backlog and nuclear cannot be built in time to meet near-term demand.

During our meeting, Rep. Lawler expressed support for an “all of the above” energy policy. We explained why current federal actions fall far short of that standard. A true all-of-the-above energy approach cannot selectively stall and block wind and solar, and we urged him to engage the administration and Congress to fix what has become an effective permitting ban on the technologies that are contributing 85-90% of new electricity to the grid.

We appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Congressman and look forward to working with all members of the House and Senate to help cut extreme red tape and unblock essential wind and solar projects to address rising energy prices and grid reliability.