Nevada environmentalists keeping close eye on think tank backed by Kochs

By Kyle Roerink

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 | 2 a.m.

The upscale hotel that’s home to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual policy summit is a six-minute drive from the Washington, D.C., offices of the EPA.

But in terms of philosophy about the environment, it might as well be a galaxy away.

The Environmental Protection Agency, a lightning rod for conservative groups across the country, will be a topic of interest at ALEC’s States and Nation Policy Summit this week at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. Conference attendees also are expected to focus on environmental regulations imposed by states, which has conservationists and clean-energy proponents in Nevada and elsewhere worried.

Members of ALEC, a think tank backed by Koch Industries and other fossil fuel producers, are gathering to approve draft legislation that suggests changes to environmental protocol and policies in state government. The group comprises state lawmakers and lobbyists, all of whom get to vote on adopting the group’s policy platforms.

If approved this week, the legislative initiatives will eventually funnel from the D.C. hotel to state capitols. ALEC’s members draft model legislation in myriad policy areas. Every year, the models approved at the policy summit become law in states.

With the Republican wave that swept the nation on Nov. 4, many of the ALEC-sponsored proposals could have legs in legislative sessions in 2015.

For environmental groups, that’s cause for concern.

Environment Nevada, an arm of the national green group Environment America, signed onto a letter asking 7,000 state lawmakers nationwide to “publicly reject ALEC’s efforts to shape (or misshape) state legislation.” Environment Nevada was one of 111 groups that signed the letter.

Information about ALEC is not easy to come by. It’s a nonprofit not obliged to reveal its donor list, model legislation and membership. But over the years, documents and names have leaked. ALEC surprised its critics when it posted drafts of its model laws that will be up for debate at its summit.

But not everything became public. The National Resource Defense Council obtained a memo revealing the event’s $750 registration fee for private members and outlining a detailed schedule of lunches, receptions and policy workshops. The memo also attached a list of model policy that had bracketed slots embedded in draft legislation for inserting the name of a given state.

One draft law suggested cutting EPA funding by 70 percent.

But the proposals most concerning environmental groups regard the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

That proposal, announced in June, requires states to cut emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent by 2030.

The plan will singlehandedly reduce emissions more than any other regulation in the history of the country. It will also make coal a less viable utility. The power plan encourages operators of coal-fired plants to switch to natural gas, and suggests switching to renewables like wind and solar.

For coal producing states like Wyoming, Montana and Kentucky, the EPA regulation is a blow to jobs and tax revenues. ALEC members with interests in coal mining nationwide include Devon Energy, Peabody Energy, TransCanada and others, according to a July report from the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit investigative research and reporting group.

ALEC says the new EPA regulations will boost electricity prices in 43 states and threaten electricity production throughout the country.

States must submit to the EPA their plans for emission reduction. The ALEC legislation would require an additional step before submitting to the EPA: receiving legislative approval.

Environmental groups say that would undermine the effect of the regulation and repeal laws that have been in place for decades.

“What they are trying to do is raise barriers to implementation,” said David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program with the NRDC.

The ALEC proposal could provide an opportunity to muster dissent among constituents and provoke litigation, Doniger said.

“The strategy encourages more lawsuits and encourages foot dragging,” he said.

ALEC officials did not respond to Las Vegas Sun interview requests.

For Nevada, the ALEC-backed legislation could provide barriers to the state’s growing solar market, said Elizabeth Ouzts, a spokeswoman for Environment America.

The state is currently on track to have 25 percent of its electricity come from renewables by 2025. But advocates are hoping for more faster.

ALEC’s idea that the nation must choose “between a clean and healthy environment and a robust economy is a false choice,” Ouzts said.

She said growth in the solar industry is on par with traditional energy sources.

ALEC will also vote on draft bills that would limit the EPA’s role in regulating air quality standards and drilling offshore in Alaskan waters.

The language in one draft resolution said the “EPA has become an almost wholly owned subsidiary of the liberal environmental movement. At the same time, state environmental agencies have significantly matured.”

The state’s former ALEC representative, Secretary of State-elect Barbara Cegavske, wasn’t surprised that ALEC was coming under attack from environmental groups.

“Some of us believe in Al Gore and some of us don’t,” she said.

Nevada’s new ALEC representative, Republican Sen. James Settelmeyer, says he doesn’t oppose decreasing emissions or seeing more new energy sources. But he said there “needs to be a balance” in how the government implements its policies.