WKMS Covers Political Working Group's Meeting with Legislators

Members of the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition's Political Working Group met with some of the state’s legislators on Friday afternoon to discuss the Energy Opportunity Act. KSEC secured the bill's first senate sponsor, Sen. Reggie Thomas, in  2015. The bill has not made it to a vote in either the House or Senate committees in which it has been placed. The KSEC youth talked with legislators about how to get the bill sent to committees where it could receive a vote and discussed other avenues of promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency through the Kentucky Legislature.

In passing the Energy Opportunity Act, Kentucky would adopt a renewable and energy efficiency portfolio standard that would increase utility companies’ renewable energy production by 12.5 percent and increase energy efficiency by 10.25 percent over the next 10 years. The legislation also introduces feed-in tariffs to Kentucky utilities, which would give Kentuckians the opportunity to become energy entrepreneurs.

Excerpt from "Kentucky Environmental Students Push Renewable Bill in 2017 Session" - 

Fifteen-year-old KSEC Political Working Group Media chair Grace Engelman says bipartisan support is critical for job opportunities for young Kentuckians as “climate change issues” will affect them most.

“Kentucky has always been an energy leader, and right now we are falling behind, because new energy is renewable energy, so it's important that Kentucky stays ahead by diversifying its energy portfolio,” said Engelman.
Perhaps it is best to look at the bill as an economic focus rather than energy said Engleman.
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“Energy related legislation is just hard to pass in Kentucky because of how depressed our coal industry has become and a lot of legislators fear that passing this type legislation will make their constituents unhappy because a lot people see renewable energy as taking away from coal--when in reality coa,l is declining on its own because it's becoming more and more expensive to extract.” Engleman added that future jobs lie within the renewable market.