The voters of Missouri
collectively decided, in a ballot vote in 2008, to get their state to 15 percent renewable energy by 2021. A law was written in compliance with the
vote that specifiedMissouri’s
investor-owned utility companies would need to meet this voter-approved
mandate. It was fully enacted by 2010.
But, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, that
law might be a defanged version of its former self, thanks to certain
legislators with ties to the corporate lobbying group American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC).
The lawsuit alleges that a
group of ten legislators on Missouri’s Joint Committee On Administrative Rules removed two vital paragraphs from the law’s text. Those paragraphs
include a passage that “requires the state’s four major investor-owned
utilities to invest in renewable power produced either in Missouri or an
adjacent state,” according to Midwest Energy News.
It would be no surprise if
the committee pushed to strip the law of its power. After all, pushing back
renewable energy standards has been one of the main goals of ALEC, and of the
ten members of the committee, seven have ties to the organization:
1.
Senator Bob Dixon. Dixon is
a proud ALEC member. In fact, he lists his role on ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task
Force on his campaign website’s biography.
2.
Senator Eric Schmitt. According
to a report by the Sierra Club,
Schmitt has co-sponsored ALEC-backed legislation.
3.
Senator Wayne Wallingford. Wallingford
is known to have attended ALEC conventions and has co-sponsored ALEC legislation.
7. Rep.
Mike Colona. Colona
was a member of ALEC, but renounced his membership last year, saying the group was “radical and wrong for Missouri.”
ALEC has pushed extensively
to repeal or weaken renewable energy standards, most recently in North Carolina.
Largely, it has failed in this effort. Of the 13 states where it pushed to get
rid of clean energy standards like Missouri’s, it did not successfully push
through even one piece of legislation.
But the group isn’t done
yet. During its 40th annual meeting earlier this month, ALEC doubled down and pledged to make repealing renewable energy standards a key
prong of its future strategy. The organization’s stake in the issue is clear.
With backing by the oil billionaire Koch brothers and
major coal oil companies, they have a vested interest in keeping
renewables out of the market.
With backing by the oil billionaire Koch brothers and major coal oil companies, they have a vested interest in keeping renewables out of the market.
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