BOISE, Idaho — A new nonprofit looking to spread the word about non-carbon, renewable energy such as wind and solar took its message to the Idaho State Capitol this week.
"From north Idaho to south Idaho, to the fishing family to a farming family, clean energy benefits everyone," said Peter Richardson, chairman of Idaho Energy Freedom.
Environmental nonprofits like Idaho Energy Freedom and other organizations were at the statehouse Wednesday to talk with state lawmakers and anyone else.
Richardson said Idaho Energy Freedom’s goal is to educate the community and debunk any myths surround clean energy. Speakers talked about the current and future plans for sustainable energy sources for tribal communities and for Idaho farms.
"One of our presenters was a large farmer in Bruneau, Idaho, and he has several wind turbines on his farm. He talks about how that makes his ranch more economically stable and doesn't interfere with his ranching operations at all," Richardson said. "Then we had a woman from the Nez Perce tribe who talked about clean energy, helping the ability to maintain its historical fishing and relationship with the land because clean energy projects do not have a large carbon footprint.”
Speakers also talked about Idaho’s wind resource and solar panels for businesses and homeowners. They hope to continue to support local businesses, organizations, and any groups in Idaho with a clean energy goal.
“Many of the new large industries in Idaho and many of the established industries like Simplot have a clean energy goal and a non-carbon future and 100% clean energy and we are here to support that,” Richardson said.
Idaho Energy Freedom is keeping a close eye on any legislation that could affect green energy, Richardson said.
“We are not a lobbying organization or an advocate group," he said. "We are here to talk in a broad sense the benefit to the state of clean and renewable energy."
Watch more Idaho politics:
See all of our latest political coverage in our YouTube playlist:
Download the KTVB mobile app to get breaking news, weather and important stories at your fingertips.