{"id":11014,"date":"2012-09-21T06:45:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T12:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=11014"},"modified":"2012-09-21T01:50:17","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T07:50:17","slug":"after-the-wind-boom-a-fight-over-idahos-energy-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/09\/21\/after-the-wind-boom-a-fight-over-idahos-energy-future\/","title":{"rendered":"After The Wind Boom, A Fight Over Idaho’s Energy Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

The wind farm on Edith and Richard Kopp's land was completed last year.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you look at a map of where wind development has taken off in Idaho, you\u2019ll notice an area near American Falls. There, in the rolling agricultural land of southeast Idaho, Edith Kopp stands on a high hillside.\u00a0 She gazes out with satisfaction at more than a dozen turbines, turning steadily.<\/p>\n

“This is a pretty constant wind,” she says.\u00a0 “They\u2019re all going!”<\/p>\n

Kopp and her husband, Richard, have spent their lives right here, farming grain.\u00a0 For decades, they\u2019ve planted in spring and harvested in summer.\u00a0 They\u2019ve tallied profits and losses as winter sets in.\u00a0 The years have been marked by anxiety, and hope.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully at the end of the year when you sell your crop, there will be something left for you,” Kopp explains.\u00a0 “In 33 years of marriage there\u2019s been several of those years when there wasn\u2019t anything left for us.”<\/p>\n

She pauses, and then says, “This is the first time we\u2019ve ever had a steady income.”<\/p>\n

That income is thanks to wind turbines like the one that towers above us. A wind developer owns it, but the Kopps own this land.\u00a0 To them, the turbines mean royalty payments for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

This billboard and others near American Falls are one measure of how sentiment has turned against wind development.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wind development has taken off in Idaho.\u00a0 In four years, 30 wind projects were approved in the state.\u00a0 Before then, Idaho had just one wind farm.\u00a0 Now, legislators and the state\u2019s utilities are pumping the brakes.<\/p>\n

The Kopp’s story is the kind wind developers love to tout: here in Idaho, clean and renewable wind energy is sustaining rural communities.\u00a0 But you don\u2019t have to go far to get a very different take on wind development.<\/p>\n

On the roadside, on the way out of American Falls, there’s a billboard that reads, “swindle.”\u00a0 The letters w-i-n-d, spelling “wind,” are in red.\u00a0 Then the sign reads, “Not cheap.\u00a0 Not clean.\u00a0 Not for Idaho.”<\/p>\n

It’s one of several nearby.\u00a0 They’re sponsored by a local anti-wind group called the Energy Integrity Project, and they aren\u2019t the only opposition the industry has faced here.\u00a0 There have been objections about spoiled landscapes and preferential tax policy. \u00a0A proposed moratorium on wind development has won support from prominent legislators. \u00a0Then there\u2019s Idaho Power\u2019s campaign. Through TV ads and leaflets, the state\u2019s largest utility has worked to spread a simple message: wind power drives up electricity prices.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s going on here?\u00a0 Why did Idaho welcome wind and then turn a cold shoulder?\u00a0 The answer is the story behind<\/em> the story of Edith and Richard Kopp\u2019s wind turbines.\u00a0 And it has to do with a federal law you\u2019ve probably never heard of: the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, also known as PURPA.<\/p>\n

“Congress, when it passed PURPA, their goal was essentially national security,” explains Peter Richardson, who practices energy and utility law in Boise.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the context: it\u2019s the late 70s, and there\u2019s an energy crisis.\u00a0 Government wants to encourage independent power production, but there\u2019s a problem. \u00a0The utilities control electricity generation.\u00a0 They\u2019re monopolies.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to distribute power they don\u2019t produce.\u00a0 So, here\u2019s what PURPA does: it makes utilities accept power from small, independent projects.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n

Now, fast-forward 30 years.\u00a0 There\u2019s anxiety about climate change and job creation.\u00a0 Congress passes a tax credit for renewable energy production.\u00a0 Idaho passes a property tax exemption for wind producers.\u00a0 At the same time, wind turbines become a lot cheaper.\u00a0 Plus, PURPA is still there, telling utilities they have to accept power from small, independent producers.\u00a0 Wind developers rush into Idaho, catching the state off-guard.\u00a0 And that brings us to today.<\/p>\n

“The utilities are using this accident,” Richardson says, “this perfect storm, that allowed for a very large amount of wind to be developed to put the kibosh on all PURPA projects.”<\/p>\n

Richardson <\/strong>represents many wind developers, and this is his view: that the utilities are trying to dismantle the mechanism that forces them to accept energy from small, independent projects.\u00a0 He says the utilities want to protect their market power, and their profits.\u00a0 No surprise, the utilities don\u2019t see it that way.\u00a0 Mark Stokes is the manager of power supply planning for Idaho Power.<\/p>\n

“I would not characterize it as us trying to dismantle PURPA,” says Mark Stokes, the manager of power supply planning for Idaho Power.\u00a0 “We are just trying to get the rates that we pay for this energy through these contracts to be a fair rate, so that our customers aren\u2019t harmed.”<\/p>\n

Idaho Power has a couple of arguments.\u00a0 First, wind doesn\u2019t always blow, and turbines don\u2019t always turn.\u00a0 For utilities, that varying supply can be hard to accommodate.\u00a0 Sometimes, Stokes says, Idaho Power winds up with way more energy than it needs.<\/p>\n

“We end up having to turn around and sell that energy back into the market, because it\u2019s surplus,” Stokes says.\u00a0 “We end up taking a big loss on that, which ultimately ends up impacting the rates of our customers.”<\/p>\n

Stokes and Richardson don\u2019t agree about much, but they both say one key thing.\u00a0 There\u2019s a rate \u2013 set by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission \u2013 that dictates how much utilities pay for the independent power they have to accept.\u00a0 Stokes and Richardson say that rate may, for a time, have been set too high.\u00a0 In other words, when wind developers looked around to see where they should build projects, they saw a special deal in Idaho.<\/p>\n

The utilities want a lot of changes to the way PURPA works in the state.\u00a0 Those include shorter contracts with independent energy producers, and a different way to calculate rates.<\/p>\n

Richardson says the utilities\u2019 proposals would shut wind developers out of the state.\u00a0 “Instead of turning the spigot on and off to allow new development when it\u2019s needed, they\u2019re basically blowing up the well!” he says.<\/p>\n

These arguments are currently before the Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to rule next month.\u00a0 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already weighed in on one aspect of the case, coming down in favor of the wind industry.<\/p>\n

What can we take away from all of this?\u00a0 Let\u2019s hear from one more person: Ben Otto, of the Idaho Conservation League. \u00a0He\u2019s a fan of clean energy, but he says Idaho hasn\u2019t approached it in the right way.<\/p>\n

“Business is just reacting naturally to what is placed before them,” he says.\u00a0 He imitates an old-fashioned ad man. \u201c’Here\u2019s a very lucrative thing, and it\u2019s a limited-time offer!\u00a0 Get it now, before we\u2019re out!'”\u00a0 And that’s because Idaho doesn’t have much of an energy plan, Otto says.<\/p>\n

The state does have a document called the Idaho Energy Plan, but Otto and other experts <\/strong>say it has little weight.\u00a0 Otto believes that leaves the state in a binge-and-purge cycle.\u00a0 “When the incentives are hot, everybody comes in,” he explains.\u00a0 “When the incentives go down, everybody leaves.”<\/p>\n

A federal tax credit for wind power is set to expire in December, making this particular cycle even more dramatic.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s think back to the start of the story and to Edith Kopp, standing under a turbine on a hillside near American Falls.\u00a0 Why did Idaho welcome wind farms, and then change its tune?\u00a0 The answer is complicated.\u00a0 It\u2019s about state and federal policy, and businesses looking for profit.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a case study in unintended consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you look at a map of where wind development has taken off in Idaho, you\u2019ll notice an area near American Falls. There, in the rolling agricultural land of southeast Idaho, Edith Kopp stands on a high hillside.\u00a0 She gazes out with satisfaction at more than a dozen turbines, turning steadily. “This is a pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":11019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[68,100,43,44],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}