Corbett Administration Responds To Renewable Energy Charges

The Corbett Administration is pushing back against a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article accusing the Republican of “turning off the lights” when it comes to renewable energy programs.

Here’s what the Sunday article charged:

Quietly but systematically, the administration has all but shut down the state Department of Environmental Protection‘s Office of Energy and Technology Deployment — the state’s primary energy office — and removed directors and reassigned staff in the Office of Energy Management in the Department of General Services and the Governor’s Green Government Council.

It has also forbidden state executive agencies from signing contracts that support clean energy supply.

Not so, says Corbett’s “energy czar” Pat Henderson, in an AP article published this afternoon:

The programs were emphasized by previous governors, but the Corbett administration says the changes are merely part of the new approach by Gov. Tom Corbett’s energyexecutive, Patrick Henderson, it said.

“Gov. Corbett understands the critical importance of all energy resources, including renewables, both to our economy and our quality of life,” Henderson wrote in a letter Monday responding to the Post-Gazette story. “He remains committed to policies which respect taxpayer dollars and grow all our energy industries in a sustainable manner.”

Henderson said the Office of Energy and Technology Deployment in the state Department of Environmental Protection was renamed, not disbanded, and he said the Guaranteed Energy Savings Act program, which helps school districts and local governments invest in energy conservation project, is under review.

The office that administers the Guaranteed Energy Savings Act program is one of several that lost employees, the Post-Gazette reported.