Staff Writer

Union's efforts to go green are helping make America more secure, Fourth District Rep. Bob Inglis says.

Inglis and Union Mayor Bruce Morgan participated in a meeting on climate change in Washington, D.C., last week. Morgan talked about the steps Union has taken in recent years to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and become more environmentally-friendly.

Those steps drew praise from Inglis, who said that by reducing its dependence on foreign oil, Union is helping to improve America's national security. Inglis, a strong proponent of alternative sources of energy and reducing America's dependence on fossil fuel, said Union's actions are good on environmental, economic and national security grounds.

“Our national security is at-risk because of our dependence on foreign oil,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the triple play: clean up the air, create jobs by developing these new technologies and improve the security of the United States. It's a triple play and that's why I make it such a high priority and that's why I'm so excited about cities like Union making it real.”

Morgan said that going green can make Union more attractive to high-tech, environmentally-conscious businesses and industries. Inglis agreed, pointing out that many “portable” or Internet-based businesses are looking for such communities.

It's going to help market the city as a green community that makes it even more attractive prospects with portable businesses,” he said. “Portable businesses are businesses that can operate anywhere on the Internet. Their physical location doesn't really matter, so they can locate in Palo Alto, Calif., or Union, S.C.

“These types of businesses are looking for communities that are environmentally conscious and the city has taken concrete steps toward an environmentally-sensitive footprint,” he said. “This makes Union more attractive to these types of businesses.”

Morgan pointed out that Union gets its electricity from nuclear energy through the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency and/or from hydroelectric sources through Lockhart Power. Neither source produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which cause global warming.

“We have always been a green city by way of being involved in nuclear power or hydroelectric power,” he said. “None of our power comes from coal-fired plants which put carbon dioxide in the air.”

Its lack of a carbon footprint has made Union an advocate of a national carbon “cap and trade” system.

“The senators and congressmen are now beginning to talk about how they can tax carbon,” Morgan said. “Instead of trying to tax carbon, we're promoting what's known as cap and trade where you cap the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that can be put into the air. You give credits to the people who don't emit carbon dioxide and you trade those credits.

“What that does is it rewards people who are in the hydroelectric business and the nuclear business, by receiving revenue for those credits,” he said. “You basically put more expense on those who are emitting carbon dioxide like the hydrocarbon plants and the coal-fired plants. So over time what happens is it becomes more cost-effective to use non-polluting types of energy generation. Over the period of the next 20-30 years we could almost eliminate our use of hydrocarbons to produce fuel in this country.”

Inglis said he is continuing to weight arguments for both a carbon tax and a cap and trade system.

“There are very strong arguments for a carbon cap and trade system, but there are also very strong conservative arguments for a carbon tax,” he said. “You tax a negative thing, which is carbon, rather than a positive, which would be income.”

Inglis said he favors using tax incentives to promote alternative fuels, renewable sources of energy and technologies such as plug-in hybrids. Union City Council has passed a resolution urging the auto industry to build plug-in hybrids which could be charged at night by plugging them into an electric socket.

“I favor tax incentives that would be credits or deductions that would incentivize the use of plug-in hybrids,” he said. This is going to happen. This technology is here and it is going to happen. Places like Union are going to make it happen because of the availability of electricity from safe and clean nuclear energy and renewable hydroelectric power.”