Sen. Alexander will embrace all forms of energy except coal. On the bright side he remains opposed to wind subsidies.
The National Journal reports:
He’ll then lay out “four grand principles” to “help the United States end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy and instead focus on doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy.”
His four principles are: cheaper, not more expensive energy; clean, not just renewable energy; research and development, not government mandates; and a free market, not government, picking winners and losers.More specifically, he’ll praise the U.S. boom in development of natural gas, a source of electricity that produces half the carbon pollution of coal. While he’ll acknowledge the role renewable-energy sources such as solar play in the nation’s energy mix, he’ll also push for development of low-carbon electricity sources such as nuclear and hydropower. He’ll praise the work done by the Energy Department lab ARPA-E, which researches high-risk, high-reward breakthrough clean-energy technologies—a move that comes on the heels of a GOP campaign railing against President Obama for the bankruptcy of the solar company Solyndra, which took $500 million in an Energy Department loan guarantee.
In addition, Alexander will call for an end to government subsidies on wind energy, a policy he’s long opposed. The proposals hardly line up exactly with President Obama’s green agenda, but with their clear focus on low-carbon energy, they are a far cry from the stance of many in the GOP.