Beware attack on fossil fuel

By Martin Abraham

Special to The Vindicator

The campaign to persuade universities and foundations to divest fossil-fuel energy assets from their portfolios is a growing national issue.

For example, late in January, the University of Maine system trustees voted to divest from coal companies. This follows similar action by Stanford University much earlier last year, and several other universities that have chosen to divest from coal and other non-renewable energy companies. Divestment from fossil- fuel companies is a goal of WeArePowershift.org and their Ohio-based partner, the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition. The movement targets universities, in part, because they are leaders in independent thought and analysis with the expertise to critically evaluate the costs and benefits of a given decision. In that spirit, I would like to evaluate the issue of divestment from fossil-resource companies.

Allow me to establish my credentials to address this issue. As editor of the journal Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy, I read hundreds of articles each year submitted from all over the world that describe new technologies to produce energy in a clean and sustainable manner. I have supervised research evaluating fuel cells operating on biofuels, investigated technologies for the capture of CO2, and looked at new techniques for producing chemicals from renewable resources. I served as chair of the Committee on Environmental Improvement of the American Chemical Society and authored policy statements on climate change, energy, and sustainability. As dean of the STEM College at YSU, I supported formation of the Natural Gas and Water Resources Institute while simultaneously supporting our faculty who oppose fracking. I know the real challenges, both technological and societal, that underlie the discussion that one often sees very simplistically displayed by advocates on both sides of the conversation.

CASE AGAINST DIVESTMENT

While the issue of divestment has not yet come to YSU, there is a growing trend seeking divestment of university portfolios from fossil fuel-based companies. Supporters of divestment are concerned about the harm that continued burning of fossil fuels will do to the environment and its impact on climate change. I too am concerned about such issues and know that changes in our energy mix are required. I also know that we are making progress, that renewable technologies including solar and wind are getting better and are increasing in their proportion of the energy production profile. But I also know that there is a great deal more work to be done, that we need to achieve greater conversion efficiencies in our solar cells, that we need to address the use of critical and extremely hazardous materials in the production of solar cells, that energy storage technologies are not yet capable of meeting energy demands. And for these reasons, I believe that divestment is short-sighted.

Discretionary spending in the federal budget for research and development of alternative energy sources has steadily declined. As American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Alan Leshner said last April, the recent trend in federal support for science “is nothing short of seriously depressing,” noting that federal R&D overall has declined 15 percent in real dollars since 2010. Fossil-fuel companies, meanwhile, have committed to R&D, and are investing in a wide range of renewable energy initiatives. In November, ExxonMobil signed on as a founding member of MIT’s Energy Initiative, a collaboration aimed at improving and expanding renewable energy sources. Chevron holds shares in several companies producing renewables, while Shell plans to begin manufacturing biofuels in the U.S. by the end of the decade. The STEM disciplines have come to rely on traditional fossil-fuel companies for cutting-edge R&D in the renewables sector.

The growth of renewable energy sources depends, in part, on the development of shale gas in Ohio and across the U.S. According to a 2012 joint study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, “active engagement and partnership between the natural gas and renewable energy sectors can lead to efficient well-designed electricity markets better situated to achieving the long-term energy goals of energy security and climate change mitigation.” It is crucial that colleges and universities continue to invest in fossil fuels to facilitate this synergy.

IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT

Fossil-fuel divestment would also decrease opportunities for STEM graduates. Fossil-fuel companies are creating more STEM jobs, particularly here in Ohio—jobs that YSU students and thousands of others will fill upon graduating. Students in all fields, especially those in STEM, are engaged with companies large and small that are conducting research and hiring graduates both in alternative energy technologies and in traditional fossil-fuel industries. Our relationships with companies associated with shale gas development, such as Vallourec, Dearing Compressor, VEC, Baker Hughes, have directly benefited YSU students as they seek internships, co-op assignments, and full-time employment.

Oil and gas companies are also investing directly in STEM education initiatives. In Texas, Shell sponsors Texas Regional Collaborative, a program designed to educate teachers, from pre-K through college, on skills to more effectively and positively facilitate STEM interest. This prepares students to fulfill long-term growing demand for jobs in STEM fields.

The issue is not about whether we need to develop new ways of producing energy that are less harmful to the environment. We do. The issue is about the path that we take to achieve a more sustainable future. Fossil-fuel divestment would deprive Ohio of economic growth and development driven by the oil and gas industry, would cause a further decline in R&D investment in renewable energy, and would decrease job prospects for YSU graduates and many others in our region.

Dr. Abraham is interim provost of Youngstown State University.