Mississippi is no stranger to innovative energy production. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics, Mississippi boasts the 1.2 gigawatt Grand Gulf nuclear plant close to Port Gibson, the U.S.’s 10th largest oil refinery and a new $1.1 billion natural gas terminal in Pascagoula, and our sole ethanol plant produces 54 million gallons of biofuel. At least, the Vicksburg ethanol plant could do so if it were not closing this November due to high corn prices. Yet when renewable energy is considered, Mississippi has not advanced much beyond the campfires of Hernando DeSoto’s conquistadors. The boast, if ever made, that Mississippi produces 2.8 percent of electricity from renewable resources is a fancy way of saying we still use firewood. If that percentage seems like a lot of timber, realize that the statistic focuses on electricity which comprises about a third of total energy demand. After discounting the pittance of energy derived from biomass (wood), Mississippi is clearly still living in a modern renewables blackout.
Always eager to cast a juicy bait to potentially relocating businesses, Mississippi has started to light a few green candles in the state’s renewables blackout. In April 2010, the Mississippi Legislature passed HB 1701 which aimed to entice the supply side of the renewable energy industry to come on over to the Magnolia state. The bill aimed to give a Mississippi front-porch welcome to nuclear, solar, wind and hydro companies. The incentives detailed in the Mississippi Clean Energy Initiative are similar to the measures that lured Nissan and Toyota to the state: tax exemptions. If a renewable company agreed to inject $50 million and 250 full time jobs, the Mississippi Development Authority would waive for a decade 100 percent of the company’s state income, franchise and sales income taxes quicker than the Steinbrenners would, if able, kick Alex Rodriguez off the Yankees’ payroll. The measure signaled that the state was as business friendly as ever, if nothing else. In November 2011 in Olive Branch, GE opened a 212,880 square-foot warehouse as a logistics center for wind-energy components. With easy access to the Memphis airport, GE runs a highly efficient distribution operation that drives down external costs – always a priority for renewables.
Locating a facility in Mississippi that helps to streamline the global wind industry is certainly a laudable accomplishment. However, the state could play a larger role in the worldwide clean energy movement by producing clean energy. Although no Arizona, Mississippi has considerable solar resource, for example. Solar incentives for homeowners and businesses, obtained through the Tennessee Valley Authority at premium rate 0.12 cents per/kWh, are little known and little used. In the distant future, southwest Mississippi could harness geothermal energy. Sadly, Mississippi is a victim of topography and largely lacks the rushing rivers and swirling winds most easily harnessed for current renewable energy production.
The real harm Mississippi risks by following a business driven energy model is producing environmentally damaging fossil fuel energy. I am not referring to traditional oil rigs that dot the Gulf Coast. Like a relaxed priest at absolution, I suggest a sin no worse approach. Some plans are quite troubling. Mississippi Power’s Kemper County Lignite Plant is a massive project aimed at producing energy from low quality coal, using up 20,000 acres of prime forest. The state chapter of the Sierra Club states that the project is “Unnecessary, Expensive and Dirty.” The same could be said about the fracking movement centered in McComb, except this time the resource, gas, is quite cheap. The Tuscaloosa Shale project would use clean water, sand and mysterious additives to blast gas free from the earth. To counteract the environmentally deleterious impacts, the industry promises a favorite, empty buzz word: mitigation. Like trading farmland for ethanol gasoline, ruining fresh water for a whiff of gas gives me the chills.
The fracking debate aside, Mississippi’s natural gas resource is finite. Thus, what resource is available should be hoarded until prices rise and technology improves. Remember, patience is a virtue. In the future, ways to convert traditional energy resources to energy cleanly may occur. Yet despite U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Moniz’s hope for emissions-free fossil energy, the “chemical looping” technology is only theoretical. Until engineers can work greater magic, Mississippi should leave the buried alone and salute the sunshine.
