ABQJOURNAL OPINION/GUEST_COLUMNS: N.M. Can Exceed Energy Goals

Sunday, March 13, 2011

N.M. Can Exceed Energy Goals

By Daniel E. Klein
President, Twenty-First Strategies
          Halfway around the world, citizen uprisings threaten to topple a government, roiling the oil markets and causing sticker shock at the pump. Bad weather strains our energy delivery systems, creating shortages and outages.
        Our infrastructure for energy production and transportation grows increasingly old and outdated, falling further behind cutting-edge technologies that are cleaner, more efficient and more reliable. And the high prices we pay for energy threaten our fragile economy and channel billions of dollars abroad to often-unfriendly countries.
        Sound familiar? It should. It could have been ripped from recent headlines.
        Or, it might have been written in 2008, or 1980, or 1973 — or many times in between. Ever since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo taught us not to take energy security for granted, every president from Nixon to Obama has spoken of its importance. Presidential statements and rallying cries about "Project Independence," "the moral equivalent of war" and "America is addicted to oil" have become part of our national vocabulary. However, after four decades of "it's a problem," the U.S. imports over half of its petroleum, far higher than our mid-1970s import share of about 35 percent.
        Energy security is one of the top challenges to America's prosperity, national security and quality of life in the 21st century. But what does "energy security" actually mean? It's more than just oil imports and prices at the pump — much more.
        Collectively, energy security encompasses a range of considerations — long-term and short-term, domestic and foreign, economic and political, and reliability in the face of natural and man-made risks. Energy security requires a reliable supply of clean and affordable energy, consistent with domestic and international objectives and sustainability.
        A Clean Energy Strategy is key to our future. As President Obama noted in his State of the Union address, winning the future is this generation's Sputnik moment, and we need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.
        By and large, a clean energy strategy is consistent with the goals of energy security. Actions that promote energy efficiency, environmentally cleaner energy supplies, diversity of sources and innovation will also improve our overall energy security. For clean energy and energy security, the areas in common are much greater than their areas of difference.
        Our free enterprise system has been a marvelous machine for innovation and progress. Government has been a key partner, helping to educate the scientists and engineers, seeding the basic research, protecting intellectual property, setting standards for safety and quality and protecting the environment.
        But in designing for innovation, cost-effectiveness and sustainability, we have learned that some approaches are smarter and more effective than others. Well-designed regulations — stressing predictability, use of market-based mechanisms, and extensive compliance flexibility— can promote innovation, making us more competitive than poorly designed regulations. New Mexico's recently adopted greenhouse gas reduction rule represents an excellent example of a well-designed regulation, embracing market mechanisms far more than innovation-stifling command-and-control approaches.
        Further, and fortunately, New Mexico has the tools and resources to dramatically improve energy security, for itself and the U.S. More than most states, New Mexico is blessed with several inherent advantages — abundant natural gas supplies, world-class renewable resources, energy efficiency opportunities, low electricity rates and leading national energy laboratories and technology centers.
        These advantages can enable New Mexico to not just meet goals for clean energy, but to excel, creating a competitive edge that can help it lead the U.S. in the 21st century. If the state's leaders continue to move in this direction, New Mexico's energy security will be greatly improved for the benefit of current and future generations.

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