Last month I wrote about the struggle of Indiana churches to maintain current solar energy practices from encroaching legislation that would bankrupt many worship facilities. This past week, the story resurfaced as solar energy defenders found an unlikely partner, the Christian Coalition of America. The group is traditionally a very conservative organization, but over the past year has come to support environmental reforms proposed by Secretary of State, John Kerry, a Democrat.
No matter what your political leanings may be, climate change is undoubtedly a moral issue that liberals and conservatives alike are able to agree on. Whether it's caring for the 'least of these' or protecting national security by reducing dependency on foreign oil, climate change invloves all of us...wheather we like it or not.
Solar Energy’s New Best Friend Is … The Christian Coalition
By Chris Mooney for The Washington Post
The politics of solar power keeps getting more and more interesting.
In Indiana, a fight over net metering — basically, whether people with rooftop solar can return their excess power to the grid and thereby lower their utility bills — has drawn out groups ranging from the state chapter of the NAACP to the conservative TUSK (Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed) in favor of the practice.
Arrayed on the other side of the issue, meanwhile, are the Indiana Energy Association, a group of utilities, and Republican Rep. Eric Koch, sponsor of a bill that would potentially change how net metering works in the state. The legislation, in its current form, would let utility companies ask the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to include various “tariffs, rates and charges, and credits” for those customers generating their own energy at home.
