By Eric Berman
9/30/2009
Governor Daniels warns the pursuit of "green jobs" and alternative fuels could send energy costs soaring without helping the environment.
Daniels' administration has emphasized production of ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative energy sources. But the governor told a conference of industrial energy customers at IUPUI it's an "illusion, or even fantasy" to believe green energy can replace fossil fuels completely.
"This isn't policy; this is arithmetic," Daniels says. "We could be the fastest growing state in wind power for the next 25 years, and I hope we are. At that point, it may be somewhat meaningful, but it will not power this state, or at least it will not power a state with the living standards Hooisers have come to expect or should be aspiring to."
Daniels notes Indiana's manufacturing-heavy economy leans heavily on affordable energy. He argues a strong economy is critical to any effort to make environmental headway, and says pushing to replace fossil fuels rather than augmenting them would either drive prices higher, generate insufficient power, or both.
The governor was more forceful in blasting the cap-and-trade energy bill awaiting action in the U.S. Senate after passing the House earlier this year, calling it "the most rockheaded, misguided piece of legislation that's come before Congress in a long time."
Daniels contends the proposed caps on carbon emissions by businesses would inflict crippling increases in energy prices on businesses, while delivering "minuscule" environmental benefits, lowering average global temperatures by a tenth of a degree over 50 years.
And Daniels says the legislation could cause indirect harm to the environment. Describing himself as "agnostic" about global warming, Daniels says the trillions of dollars that would be spent chasing a tiny reduction in Earth's temperature could be better spent seeking greater reductions in universally acknowledged pollutants.
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