Natural Means Big Business

Written by Tracie Grimes

It’s been more than 100 years since pioneers began pumping “black gold” from Kern County soil. Little did THEY know that as they dug those first few oil wells in the late 1800s, their labor would continue to fuel Kern County’s economy for the next century.

Since those early days, oil and gas production has played a major part not only in Kern’s economic growth, but in U.S. domestic oil and gas production. Over 10 percent of U.S. domestic oil and gas comes from our area and five of California’s largest producing oil fields are right here in Kern County.

Innovation has kept Kern County at the epicenter of the nation’s energy-producing map. And although Kern will always be a leader when it comes to oil and natural gas production, the face of energy production in our county is beginning to change.

“Green” or renewable energy is the newest kid on Kern’s energy block. Biofuel, hydrogen, wind, and solar power are becoming bigger and bigger parts of Bakersfield’s energy-producing landscape, and with the current push to maximize domestic energy sources and find more environmentally-friendly ways to develop that energy, renewable energy is a fast-growing sector of our area’s economy.

“Diversifying our ‘energy portfolio’ to include renewables creates more stability in hard economic times,” Lorelei Oviatt, Kern County Director of Planning and Community Development, points out. “Renewable energy complements

—if not enhances—our oil and gas production and brings in a new dimension of jobs. Projects will need the same carpenters and electricians who may have been laid off because of the current slow-down in housing and the dip in the price of Kern’s crude oil, so we are seeing more and more opportunities for ‘green’ job training.”

To get Kern’s workforce ready to go green, local educational institutions are offering training in working on renewable energy projects. The Kern Community College District and the Employers’ Training Resource are offering classes geared toward re-training displaced workers and preparing them to enter the fast-growing “green workforce.” Independence High School also offers clean energy instruction in its Energy and Utilities Academy, which Lieutenant Governor Maldonado recently called “the future of our California; the future of our nation.”

According to Robin Fleming, Kern County Economic Development Corporation’s Senior Manager/Business Developer, those newly “greened” workers will start finding opportunities are available now because there’s a big rush to begin solar construction projects by December, so businesses can take advantage of tax incentives offered as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“Also, by the year 2020, California must produce 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources,” Fleming says. “This renewable energy mandate is actually great for Kern County because it’s stimulated a lot of interest in our area.”

Renewable resource energy is a natural fit for Kern’s energy industry because not only are we blessed with a wealth of natural resources, but because our geographic location at the center of California makes the energy we produce accessible to many metropolitan areas, Fleming observes.

“We have all the ingredients it takes to produce a high volume of domestic energy, and the icing on the cake is that we can deliver it quickly because of our close proximity to metropolitan areas.”

Solar and wind are two of the fastest-growing areas in the field, Fleming comments, grinning while she notes that “sun and wind are natural resources we certainly have plenty of.

“The Mojave Desert has become a ‘hot spot’ for solar energy and plans are underway for the world’s largest solar array to be built in the area,” she explained, adding that about 20-plus solar projects are in the permitting stage, some of the most notable include Beacon Solar Energy Project and Solar Millennium, LLC.

Wind energy, already a staple of Kern’s economy since the first wind farm was built in Tehachapi in the early 1980s, is growing exponentially and has the potential of producing billions of dollars in revenue by 2030.

“Whenever I go to an energy conference and someone finds out I’m from Kern County, they usually say, ‘Oh, yeah, Tehachapi; you guys were first,” Fleming laughs.

“We are producing about 783 megawatts today and anticipate that number to grow by an additional 4,500,” says Linda Parker, Executive Director of the Kern Wind Energy Association, noting that the huge increase is due to the foresightedness of Kern County planners and supervisors. “The county set aside 223,000 acres of land in the Tehachapi mountains to develop a huge wind farm, allowing about a dozen small wind energy companies to build turbines on the land. Distribution of the power will be much more effective thanks to a new transmission line, The Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, and the wind companies will be able to sell power to several utilities. Once everything is up and running, we’ll be able to deliver enough energy to power nearly three million homes in the Los Angeles and Kern County areas.”

But even with our wealth of natural resources and the promise of economic stimulation, renewable energy project will bring to Kern County, getting the shovels in the ground is no easy task.

“It took almost 10 years of walking the land; meeting with community members; addressing environmental concerns; complying with federal, state, and local agency regulations; and permitting requirements, but we got the green light to start the project [The Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project],” Parker says, breathing a sigh of relief. “ We wouldn’t have been able to grow at all without this transmission project because our current lines could not transmit even one more watt. And since there’s no way to store wind energy, you either have to use it or lose it.”

Parker went on to say that although California is not the easiest place to do business, Kern County’s Planning & Community Development department goes above and beyond their duty in working to get viable projects approved.

“We are very blessed to have someone like Lorelei Oviatt and her staff here to educate, work out any complications, and move projects forward in a way that benefits all parties involved.”

“We really work to be respectful of property owners and developers while protecting Kern County’s irreplaceable natural resources,” Oviatt emphasizes. “Our goal is to streamline the permit process so that good projects, not just any project but the ones that are sound and make sense, can get moving.

“The process in California takes about three times as long as in any other state, and can be pretty frustrating, but that doesn’t mean it has to stop a project dead in its tracks.”

The big question mark for starting construction on wind projects in the Tehachapi and Mojave Desert areas, for instance, was environmental. Disrupting the habitats of the Mojave ground squirrel and the desert tortoise were of great concern to environmentalists; and the U.S. Department of Defense contended that the height of the wind turbines would be hazardous to pilots.

“We worked hard to address these concerns and did get the project approved,” Oviatt says, because, she points out, “our commitment to attracting businesses to Kern County that will bring in new jobs and boost our tax revenue flows from the top down; from the Board of Supervisors to every employee in the county.”

Forward thinking that trickles from the top down; maybe that’s why Kern County citizens are following in the footsteps of county leaders when it comes to going green.

“There’s been a shift in people’s attitude towards energy,” Oviatt notes. “People in Kern County are really starting to understand the importance of renewable energy. Did you know that Bakersfield has the second most rooftop solar panels in the country? This is just another example of how people in our county look for innovative, common-sense approaches to current issues.”

It’s a balancing act, finding ways to attract renewable energy companies to Kern County while keeping them excited about moving to California even after they find out all the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) regulations, permits, and EIR’s (Environmental Impact Reports) they are required to comply with.

“Lorelei and her staff spend hours educating themselves and know every corner there is to turn when seeking a renewable energy building project permit,” Parker stresses. “They know how to spot the most viable projects, projects that will benefit Kern County taxpayers and the company looking to come into Kern County, and they will help move the project through the entire process as quickly as possible.”

“Our job in Planning & Community Development is to get to the shovel-in-the-ground point just as fast. But we also want to protect our way of life here in Kern County. We want to be respectful of people and their connections with the land and environment,” Oviatt adds.

Helping interested companies investigate land they’re interested in to find any roadblocks they may face before they get to far into the process is one valuable service offered by Oviatt’s office.

Being good stewards as the swing toward renewable energy strengthens Kern County’s position as a leading energy provider is important because it ensures that we are forging ahead in a safe, environmentally-conscious way, Parker comments.

“It’s taken a lot of work over a lot of years to get to the point where the ‘planets are all in alignment,’ ” Parker adds, ticking off issues like addressing concerns that a wayward Condor would fly into a wind turbine (even though there are no reports of a Condor being killed or injured by a wind turbine) or the small tents that had to be put up over the “Bakersfield cacti” that were transplanted to allow for wind turbine construction. “And now we can, as Supervisor Don Maben pointed out, ‘Finally start putting the steel in the ground.’ But we did what we needed to do to put Kern County at the top of the map and were able to attract companies like Terra-Gen Power who is currently building a $115 million wind farm that will feed 3,000 megawatts of clean power onto the grid.”

Renewable energy, once considered a “new age” idea is turning into a rapidly-growing powerhouse in Kern County’s economy. And as technology keeps advancing, bringing us more gadgets designed to enhance and improve our life, it’s nice to know we’ll be able to power up our iPods, computer games, and air conditioners without depleting our county’s expendable resources.

Article appeared in our 27-4 Issue - October 2010