North Carolina’s Republican legislators have passed energy and environmental laws that impede innovation and economic competition by clean energy entrepreneurs. They show little regard for the interests of individual citizens and ignore twenty-first century science. Consider these examples.
In order to build a solar or wind energy installation, the company must own or lease the property where it will be built, comply with local zoning and land use rules, and acquire right of way for transmission of the energy that they produce to customers without use of eminent domain powers or other government authority. A bill (S-843) recently passed by the State Senate’s “small government” Republicans would add a maze of new regulations and barriers including a 1.5 mile setback from the property line and a 35 decibel (human whisper) noise limit at the property line for wind farms. Solar farms would have to be invisible from adjoining property. The bill removes corporate protections for stockholders in wind and solar farms, making them individually liable for damages caused by the corporation. And it requires the corporation to set aside sufficient money to return the land to its original state after the renewable energy site is closed.
State Law is starkly different for production of natural gas or oil via fracking. Corporations do not have to own or lease the property under which they drill. They are allowed to drill horizontally under private property without agreement by the landowner and to put wells on someone else’s land without permission. Payments to the landowner will be set by a government agency and the landowner can’t refuse the arrangement. Local governments are not allowed to regulate fracking via zoning, or in any other way. A government agency can force land owners to accept a pipeline for delivery of oil or gas to market. Executives who violate laws or rules governing fracking can not be prosecuted for anything more than a misdemeanor. Owners of corporations are not personally liable for damages that their companies cause. There is no requirement to return the land and water to it’s original condition after the fracking is completed or set aside money for potential damages.
There is no evidence of substantial or long-term environmental damage by wind or solar farms. Fracking, on the other hand, is a proven cause of well contamination, air pollution, and earthquakes. The energy produced by solar and wind farms is as clean as any that is available. Gas and oil consumption contribute heavily to climate change by putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
North Carolina has few earthquakes but we do have inactive geologic faults. Two decades ago those statements were true of Oklahoma but that state experienced 581 earthquakes in 2014. In that year frackers injected over 64 billion gallons of wastewater under Oklahoma and that is clearly the cause of the earthquakes. (Scientific American, July 2016) It appears that frackers will not be required to pay for Oklahoma’s earthquake damage. It is clear, however that Oklahoma property owners will need earthquake insurance. The price of that coverage is bound to rise along with the number of quakes.
Why would a state legislature allow local zoning and regulation of wind and solar while denying it for gas and oil? Why make individual stockholders of clean energy companies responsible for damages caused by the corporation while immunizing frackers from similar claims? Why is government’s power used to enable environment-damaging industries while discouraging clean energy development?
The success of clean energy producers is visible in the form of solar and wind farms that produce electricity without pollution. Not everyone likes the changed landscape. Huge petroleum, gas, coal, and utility companies have a lot of influence with legislators and they don’t like competition from clean energy.
We need to let the market work by applying the same standards across all energy sectors. If they pollute, they should pay to clean it up. If they need a right of way to get energy to the market, the same laws and regulations should apply to all forms of energy. If they violate safety and environmental standards, criminal and civil penalties should be the same for all businesses.
Legislators who espouse free market principles should be able to collaborate with environmentally conscious colleagues to create fair competition and a cleaner state for all of us. They will if voters demand it.