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Governments need to study the economic impacts of regulations requiring utilities to use renewable energy and limit carbon emissions, attorney Melinda Davison told the Valley Electric Association ambassadors Friday night.

"Establishing renewable portfolio standards without studying the cost, the environmental impact and the ability to achieve standards I believe is irresponsible and that's what we've been doing," Davison said.

Davison represents Valley Electric in energy matters for the Portland, Ore. firm Davison Van Cleve. She is also an energy industry lobbyist in the Pacific Northwest.

"In order to have a sustainable and economically viable, safe, secure and reasonably-priced electricity we must rely on a diverse portfolio of generation sources and currently in our portfolio we have natural gas," Davison said.

Valley Electric currently gets 18 percent of its supply from hydroelectric power, according to the VEA annual report. Gas fired power plants supply most of the coop's energy needs.

The energy industry is looking at developing clean coal technologies, she said, a low cost source of electricity, but environmental concerns are stalling many of those plans.

PacifiCorps, a large utility in six western states, announced they were switching from building three new coal plants, to building a nuclear plant outside Boise, because of the unknown cost of carbon regulations, Davison said. PacifiCorps' parent company is Mid-American, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by Warren Buffet, she said.

"This is a pretty remarkable development and I think a year ago I would've told you that I would not have seen on the table. But here is one of the richest guys in the world recognizing that we need to have a diverse portfolio of generation sources," she said.

The state of Oregon chose to require its utility companies to generate 25 percent of their power by renewable energy in 2025, Davison said.

"He (the Oregon governor) chose that because it has a nice slogan. It's a good sound byte, "25 in 25." His staff didn't study the feasibility of needing 25 percent in the year 2025. He didn't study what types of sources were available to meet it," Davison said.

The state of Washington went one step farther, requiring that renewable power to be located in the state, Davison said. Most of the good wind sites in Washington have already been taken, she said.

Dave Sweetman, a Fish Lake Valley resident who uses both wind and solar power at his home, said Davison's arguments weren't any different than the automobile industry's response to regulations requiring them to improve automobile efficiency standards. Davison replied a lot of wind and solar development was already happening in the industry without the requirements.

"Wind was being developed at a very competitive price. It was competitive with natural gas, it was competitive with coal," Davison said. But she added, "Now that we have renewable portfolio standards that have mandated compliance by a date certain, those costs have literally doubled in a year and a half."

Davison said she likes the Nevada law because it states if it's not economically viable for a company to meet renewable energy goals the state utility commission has the ability to suspend that requirement for a year.

"So it is not some kind of standard that regardless of the cost you have to comply with and I think that makes a lot of sense. It is an economic off-ramp," she said.

Proposals to limit carbon emissions would result in a different way of life in America, Davison said.

"It's critically important we prepare to severely limit our use of electricity. It is not possible to meet these standards without reducing the amount of electricity that we use in the United States," Davison said.

She said states like California could have the tightest standards on carbon emissions but it wouldn't have any effect until China deals with its problem.

Davison argued the energy industry should be able to bank credits for reducing carbon emissions if they are meeting environmental standards ahead of time.

One of her clients, International Paper Company, closed down a big mill in Reedsport, Ore. several years ago that paid average wages of $55,000 per year partly due to the cost of energy. Those jobs have been replaced with minimum wage jobs in tourism, she said.

While the West Coast benefits from cheap hydroelectric power from the Columbia River through a transmission line to California, there hasn't been a connection between northern and southern Nevada, Davison said.

That may change with a big project Nevada Power is considering, to build 215 miles of transmission line to connect northern and southern Nevada, she said.

"That will give those of you in southern Nevada a lot more opportunity in terms of choices for your electric supply," Davison said.

Sweetman again had questions, about Davison ignoring distributive generation -- creating energy from the home -- instead of centralized generation.

Davison said that makes sense, noting she put a solar panel on her second home in Tucson, Ariz., even though she won't get a tax credit for it.

Philiip Keefer, who said he worked with the nuclear weapons industry at the Nevada Test Site for 45 years, advocated more nuclear power. He said it wouldn't generate any carbon emissions.

"If we could come up with nuclear power plants across the United States of America you'd solve your problem," Keefer said.

Davison said France developed nuclear power much cheaper than the U.S. by building standardized cookie-cutter plants. The U.S. built every plant dramatically different, requiring 10 years worth of permitting for each one, she said.

Davison noted some of the limitations to other alternative energy sources. Geothermal is very limited geographically. Bio-mass is also very regional, where there are trees to burn.

Wave power has been attempted off the Oregon coast, but a $2 million prototype buoy sank seven weeks after deployment and the fishing industry is concerned about the technology.