GOP turns attention to clean energy
Survey shows growing support
Conservative groups have formed across the country to encourage Republican lawmakers to step up support for clean energy sources like solar power as a source for economic development and job creation.
Two groups in Michigan and Minnesota have already formed. In addition, a Madison lobbying firm, The Capitol Group, has been studying whether to create a Wisconsin conservative energy coalition.
For too long Republicans have been pegged as anti-environment and anti-renewable energy, but there’s widespread support for clean energy sources among GOP voters nationally, speakers at a news conference said Wednesday.
The Conservative Energy Network released survey results based on national polling conducted after the election last
month that delivered a Republican sweep of the White House, Congress and most state gubernatorial and legislative races.
The election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on bringing back coal and reversing the Obama administration’s global warming policies, has left many wondering what federal policies will be for renewable energy. Stock prices of wind energy companies plummeted in the days following the election before recovering somewhat.
Mark Pischea, leader of the Conservative Energy Network, said there’s enough bipartisan voter support for renewable energy to persuade Congress to retain federal tax credits that have spurred a boom in solar and wind development across the country.
Among the findings in the survey was widespread support for solar power and for state utility rules known as net metering that ease the path both for homeowners to add solar and dairy farmers to generate electricity from manure digesters.
Other key findings:
70% of voters surveyed believe the United States should put more emphasis on wind energy production, and 76% support increased solar production. More than half of those polled think the country should put less emphasis on coal, with just 23% favoring more emphasis on coal.
Republican, Democrat and independent voters all show strong support for adoption of an energy optimization standard in their state, under which utilities are required to help customers reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency programs and products.
Support for taking action to accelerate clean energy is bipartisan as well, with support ranging from 60% on the low end from voters who described themselves as “very conservative” to 95% for voters who call themselves “total liberals.”
More than two-thirds of voters surveyed support state renewable portfolio standards that set a target for utilities to generate a minimum amount of wind and solar power. Wisconsin’s target, adopted by a bipartisan vote a decade ago, is 10%.
In Michigan, where Republicans control the Legislature and governor’s office, lawmakers are considering a bill to expand the renewable energy standard to 15%, Pischea said.
Republican voters are split on whether they would pay a little more to help create a cleaner energy future, with a majority of “soft Republicans” in favor and a majority of “base Republicans” opposed. Among all voters, two-thirds support paying a bit more to support clean energy development.
The national polling was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, which surveyed 1,000 voters by landlines and cellphones from Nov. 10-13. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
The poll avoided asking voters about their opinions on global warming. Support for action on climate change is a political driver for the left to support clean energy, Pischea said, but that’s not true for Republicans, many of whom remain skeptical of climate science findings that show a link between burning fossil fuels and warming global temperatures.
“What we’ve found as conservatives working in this arena that of the folks we come into contact with — Republican voters, Trump voters, GOP legislators and conservative thought leaders — climate can often be a barrier to a productive conversation, given the politics around climate, especially on the right,” he said.
Michelle Kussow, partner at The Capitol Group in Madison, said her firm has been working with Pischea and the national group for about a year and is considering the formation of a Wisconsin-focused conservative clean energy organization in 2017.
“Before the election we thought there was viability for this project, and now after the election we definitely believe there’s an opportunity for a conservative energy group in Wisconsin,” Kussow said.
Kussow released figures tallying the economic impact of the sector in Wisconsin, with $5.9 billion in investment across wind, solar, biomass energy as well as energy efficiency. The sector accounts for nearly 25,000 jobs across the state, she said.
“The bottom line is that rank-and-file Republican support for clean energy policies at the state level is growing,” said Mike Franklin, consultant to the Minnesota Conservative Energy Forum. “Clean energy represents an opportunity for the GOP to build a bridge to key independent voters such as millennials, college educated and minorities that are critical to the party’s ability to win elections in the future.”