Public Power - July/August 2008 - (Page 12)

10 QUESTIONS background in agriculture and most recently worked in the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. The ethanol boom in corn-growing states and rising food prices seem to be creating tension between using cropland for energy vs. food. Are Nebraskans wrestling with this challenge? Neil has a vast amount of experience in energy and agriculture and I believe the two areas are related. Neil has been the deputy director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture since 2006. He’s worked on Capitol Hill. He was the agriculture director for Sen. [Chuck] Hagel and held various positions for the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. So, for me, he is the right person. He understands the connection in terms of renewable fuels and what we are trying to do with ethanol and wind energy. America, at the federal level, needs to get serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Frankly, the Congress has talked about it for decades, but there has been no real action that has reduced our dependence on foreign oil. You’ll see states taking actions of their own. For a state like Nebraska, energy and agriculture are very interrelated. In the three-and-a-half years I’ve been governor, we’ve doubled the number of ethanol plants we have. By the end of this year, we will have tripled our capacity. You hear a little bit of talk about ethanol because of the rising price of corn and its impact on food prices. The University of Nebraska and other institutions have studied this connection and they concluded that less than 2 percent of the rise in food prices is the result of ethanol. The bottom line is gas prices; transportation costs are going through the roof at levels we’ve never seen. It is also involved in the marketing and the packaging and all the rest that goes on in the food industry. I used to work for Proctor and Gamble; this is an industry I know a little bit about and to suggest that ethanol is the cause of rising food prices, is just not accurate. Nebraskans are wrestling with the challenge that every American family is facing right now and that is high gasoline prices. Again, in part that is the failure of the Congress to have a comprehensive energy policy. Higher gas prices affect every Nebraska family. It’s impacting their daily lives in the way in which they get to work and how they get to the grocery store. It’s affecting every business and every farmer in terms of energy costs, so that’s the big challenge Nebraskans and all Americans are dealing with right now. How important is the ethanol boom to Nebraska’s economy? Ethanol is very important to our state and very important, I think, to America. In a small way we are trying to do our part to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, to have a more secure energy policy here in America. It has probably been the greatest economic development tool for rural and small town Nebraska in the last 25 years, in that wherever we put an ethanol plant—they primarily go in communities under 10,000 population—it creates approximately 50 jobs. The average salary is now above $50,000 a year, so it’s an opportunity to help our country become energy independent. It grows our agricultural sector because, in order for ethanol to succeed, you need corn, water, livestock and transportation infrastructure. We have all four. And so it has created jobs in rural Nebraska, something every state has had difficulty doing over the last 20 years. So we’ve been really, really pleased with the expansion of ethanol. It’s been good for Nebraska and I think it is good for America. What is the biggest energy challenge facing your state now? Higher energy costs in general, whether you are talking about an individual family or a business or a farm operation or a manufacturing operation, when gas prices rise from under $3 to PUBLIC POWER Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman Laurel Lundstrom interviewed Gov. Heineman on June 13, 2008. You’ve just elevated your state energy office to Cabinet-level status. Why did you make this change? We’re making this change because energy plays an increasingly important role in our daily lives and, frankly, a vital role in America’s national and economic security and I believe it is important for Nebraska to play a role in that. Energy is going to be one of those issues that demands more of my attention as we head in the future, so I wanted to make it clear that the Nebraska Energy Office director would have a seat at the Cabinet table. Nebraska is unlike any other state because it is served exclusively by consumer-owned electric utilities— either public power districts, municipal electric utilities or rural electric cooperatives. What advantage does this give Nebraskans? It’s the bottom line: lower energy costs. We have consistently lower energy rates, which helps Nebraska citizens with their everyday family bills. This is an incentive for businesses to locate in Nebraska and expand their businesses. I note with interest that Neil Moseman, your appointee to head the Nebraska Energy Office, has a strong 12 JULY-AUGUST 2008 4 1 2 5 3

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - July/August 2008

Public Power- July/August 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Solar Energy Rising Sacramento's Solar Shares Gainesville Crowns a Conservation Idol By the Numbers Curbing Costs of Outages Reliability Green Energy Hometown Connections Customer Service Parting Shot

Public Power - July/August 2008

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