Utah is in an enviable position when it comes to potential energy production. State lawmakers have pushed to strengthen the state’s coal industry in recent years, but politicians, both locally and in Washington, need a more flexible all-of-the-above approach.
That would help Utah lead the nation in providing cutting-edge energy for the future. It’s also important for national security. China, for example, is using AI to forge ahead with renewable energy.
One of the ways Utah could lead out is in the production of geothermal energy.
Bill Gates understands that. So does Utah Sen. John Curtis.
Narrow thinking
However, some Republicans in Congress want to repeal geothermal energy tax credits from the budget bill under current consideration just because it originated in a bill sponsored by Democrats. That’s narrow thinking.
Gates, the billionaire philanthropist who founded Microsoft, came to the state recently to tour a new geothermal site in southwest Utah run by Fervo Energy, a Houston-based energy supplier. His organization, Breakthrough Energy, is helping to fund the effort.
He was joined by Curtis, who is on a campaign to restore federal energy tax credits to the budget bill, which narrowly passed the House and awaits a Senate vote.
Inflation Reduction Act
In budget negotiations, some Republicans have objected to the credits because they were part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed under the Biden administration.
With tax credits, the geothermal plant will be producing power by 2028. Without them, it could be a decade or more later. That’s unacceptable.
The GOP has been divided on this issue, and for good reason. Clearly, some credits are a boon to energy plans that boost production at a time when new innovations, such as AI, are rapidly increasing the demand for electricity. Others are less reliable.
In a recent Deseret News op-ed, Curtis said government funding must be targeted and fiscally responsible.
“Some conservatives understandably want to end the energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and frankly, I agree with them on many provisions that included frivolous spending,” he wrote. “We weren’t included in its drafting and didn’t vote for it. But we must be wise — we simply cannot afford to treat good policy ideas as guilty by political association. That would be a quest for political power over intelligence and strategy.”
He’s right.
Utah is energy rich
Utah, with its vast uninhabited stretches of desert, is prime ground for virtually all green energies, just as its vast reserves of coal and oil have made it prime ground for traditional fossil fuel energy sources.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration characterized Utah this way: “An arid state with abundant sunshine, Utah is among the states with the greatest solar resources. Wind, hydropower and geothermal resources are also major contributors to the state’s electricity generation from renewables.”
Clearly, the state stands to benefit financially as the world transitions to more renewable energy sources, and as the United States works to become more energy independent.
Geothermal energy is clean and renewable. It is tapped by drilling into the heat that is consistently produced within the Earth, generated by the planet’s molten core. Unlike wind and solar energy, whose production varies depending on the weather, geothermal energy is constant, reliable and unchanging.
Gates has consistently argued that government support is needed to keep production affordable in relation to other energy sources.
“Enhanced geothermal is one of the most promising solutions for delivering reliable, low-carbon power, especially as demand for affordable energy grows,” he said in a press release.
Tax credits were intended to provide incentives to homeowners and businesses to install energy systems, such as geothermal, giving them a way to deduct a percentage of the costs from their federal taxes. Fervo Energy has already benefited from these at its Utah plant. Losing the credits would slow production considerably at a time when the nation’s potential adversaries are moving quickly.
In his op-ed, Curtis correctly noted that “oil and gas, nuclear, (and) renewables ... have already made billions in long-term investments” based on policies for which Republicans once fought.
Now is not the time to let petty partisanship triumph over common sense and the long-term good of the republic. Curtis is right. Carefully targeted tax credits should remain in place for the good of the nation and Utah.