Des Moines Register
03-26-07
Keep eyes on prize: Growing an industry
Reserve Power Fund dollars for research.
REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD
The Economic Growth Committee in the Iowa House is scheduled to start digging
into a pile of bills today related to nurturing the state's renewable-energy industry
and setting up Gov. Chet Culver's proposed $100 million Iowa Power Fund.
Fortunately, on this issue, legislators "get it." They recognize that Iowa's ethanol,
soy-biodiesel and wind-energy industries have staked the state to an early lead
in renewable-energy production and know-how. They realize it will take more
government investment as seed money to maintain that lead.
Unfortunately, the prospect of that much government cash is an invitation for
empire-building and money-grabbing. Before things get out of control, legislators
should resolve to stay focused on the historic opportunity at hand: making Iowa a
world center of expertise on biofuels and energy crops, which could drive the
state's economy for decades to come.
Culver has proposed $25 million for the Power Fund's first year and wants a
nine-member Iowa Power Fund Partnership Council to decide how to spend it.
Senate File 500 would appropriate nearly that much, but it also would carve out
$5 million off the top for specific programs: $100,000 for education and outreach
about greenhouse-gas reduction, $300,000 for developing a database for school
energy consumption, $1 million for grants to construct energy-saving public
buildings, etc.
Another bill, House File 509, directs $18 million next year and more in
subsequent years to biofuels research and development. Yet another bill, House
File 498, is broadly aimed at energy independence and contains measures such
as requiring state garages to install pumps that can dispense blends of 85
percent ethanol.
Whew.
Rep. Roger Thomas, D-Elkader, the committee's chair, plans to allow a full airing
of ideas at public meetings, but wants to resist "carve-outs." He believes, wisely,
that the $25 million should be delivered to the energy experts on the council to
distribute through a competitive, public process, rather than having politicians
pick favorites. Leaving the decisions to the council rather than specifying
recipients in the law also would allow for greater flexibility in responding to a fastmoving industry.
In all likelihood, the Power Fund money will be appropriated through a new Office
of Renewable Energy, part of the governor's office. Some legislators fear that will
politicize how the money is divvied up and think the office should reside in the
Department of Economic Development. The new office was a prominent part of
Culver's campaign and should move forward, but legislators' wariness shows
why all Power Fund money should be distributed through a public application
process.
Many of the energy-efficiency and greenhouse-gas-reduction proposals threaded
through the bills are good ideas. They should be part of the state's
comprehensive energy plan. But some of that work is being done by existing
programs. As an example, the state's investor-owned utilities already invested
$99 million in 2005 in energy efficiency. Building on those efforts shouldn't take
away dollars from renewable-fuels research and development.
Other bills, including House File 637, would target $5 million a year for new
faculty positions at Iowa State University to conduct biofuels-related research
and $28 million for a building to house ISU's Office of Biorenewables Programs.
Those initiatives should be approved.
Arguably, the eventual Power Fund bill should have no strings attached other
than recommending that all money go toward university research. It's not clear
whether ethanol, other biofuels, hydrogen and fuel cells or a host of other
technologies will emerge as primary replacements for gasoline.
The only way to lead an evolving industry is to lead in research.