Saturday, October 29, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign hosted the Oklahoma’s Energy Future Forum at the Oklahoma State University Campus in Oklahoma City. There were 75 guests in attendance at the forum to learn about and discuss the opportunities and resources available in Oklahoma to develop a statewide energy plan that will create jobs, clean up the environment, and protect the health of Oklahoma residents.
Mary Anne Hitt, National Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, was the keynote speaker of the forum and kicked off the event by introducing the Beyond Coal Campaign and addressing the many problems associated with the dirty energy source. Hitt discussed that in order to be successful and effective in moving toward a clean energy future, action must happen at the state level. She said, “There are a few states that can be massive clean energy leaders and Oklahoma is one of them.”
Following Mary Ann Hitt’s speech was a panel of other energy experts that expressed their thoughts and ideas about the future of energy production in Oklahoma. The panel included Michael Ming, Oklahoma Secretary of Energy, Jim Roth, attorney with Phillips Murrah Law Firm, Rob Janssen with Kelson Energy, Chris Knapp with Apex Wind Energy, Phillip Teel with Clean Line Energy Partners.. Michael Ming was the first panelist to speak and he started off with a thought provoking analogy, which had the audience look back on the progress, or lack thereof in energy production. This analogy illustrated what would happen if Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Graham Bell were to come back and see their inventions in their present day form. If Bell were to see our cell phones, many of which resemble mini-computers, he would probably have no idea what it was or even that it had developed from his original invention. On the other hand, Franklin would easily be able to recognize our modern day electricity because it has hardly changed from his original invention.
The common theme amongst many of the panelists was that Oklahoma has the ability to become the leader in the movement towards cleaner energy. Oklahoma has long been a leader in energy and has the resources necessary to move away from a dependence on coal fired power plants. Jim Roth stated in reference to wind and natural gas “when it comes to new sources of energy, we should use our native blessings.” Whether or not you think wind is a blessing, it is a sure fact that Oklahoma has enough of it that can and should be used to our advantage.
After the panel concluded, there was time for questions and discussion with the audience. Participants broke for lunch provided by the Sierra Club and continued conversation about the energy future of Oklahoma. Following lunch, the attendees relocated to two smaller breakout sessions. One group discussed clean energy policies while the other discussed the grassroots movement to transition away from coal and what they thought the campaign should do in order inform others about the problems and dangers of coal powered energy. The clean energy policy discussion was led by Bud Scott with Oklahoma Progress, PLLC and Montelle Clark with the Oklahoma Sustainability Network. The main topics discussed were incentives and tax exemptions for individuals or companies that use clean energy. The group also covered ways of lowering individuals’ consumption levels, including in-home displayed monitoring and pre-paid metering. The main consensus in the other group, which focused more on achieving campaign goals rather than policy, was that in order for more people to get involved, there needs to be a greater awareness of the problems and dangers of dirty energy. One way that the Beyond Coal Campaign is attempting to do this is by encouraging people to host mercury teach-ins for their friends and family. If you want to find out how to host one of these teach-ins email whitney.pearson@sierraclub.org
Although Oklahoma’s Energy Future Forum took place early Saturday morning, there were still 75 dedicated individuals including public officials, energy experts, industry representatives, advocates, and interested Oklahomans eager to gather in order to learn about and discuss the solutions of moving Oklahoma beyond coal toward a clean energy future. This forum was one of many exhibits of the continuously growing popularity of the topic of future energy production in the state. The Governor’s Energy Conference is a similar event that will be held Wednesday November 9, 2011 at the Cox Business Center in downtown Oklahoma City. These discussions are timely as the Environmental Protection Agency will be finalizing two new regulations by the end of the year (a regional haze plan and a mercury and air toxics safeguard) that will require utilities to decide whether to invest in cleaning up their coal plants or retiring them.
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