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Democrats'R'Us:
SALEM- Even though a majority of Oregon’s electricity comes from dams, hydropower is not considered a renewable energy source.
When legislators passed Oregon’s renewable energy goals in 2007, they opted not to include hydroelectric power from older dams as a renewable energy source.
Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland, who originally worked on the energy proposal, said that many technical reasons existed for why hydropower was excluded as renewable energy.
In any case, there's a chance that this idiocy will change during this legislative session, as Oregonians have actually elected a few adults for a change. Naturally, some folks have a problem with this:
Rich Bowers from the Hydropower Reform Coalition said that because of the state’s heavy use of hydro, including it as part of the renewable energy goals would defeat the purpose of the energy goal to diversify.
“It really doesn’t do a whole lot for new investments, new technologies, and really new power,” said Bowers.
The fact that hydro is inexpensive, reliable, and proven technology means that we shouldn't be using it as much, because doing so impedes the development of much costlier and less reliable sources such as wind and solar, according to Bowers, Cannon, and their associates at the Oregon Brain Trust. These are the same folks who believe very strongly that you should be riding a bicycle, a train, or a streetcar. They may be 18th century technologies, but they're like, green and stuff.
It seems to have occurred to a few in the legislature that it might just have been a silly move to classify hydro as non-renewable, since everybody else on the planet considers it renewable. There's a glimmer of sanity in the state house.
