Giant Leaps Call for Giant Courage and Confidence
Steve Mitnick has authored five books on the economics, history, and people of the utilities industries. While in the consulting practice leadership of McKinsey & Co. and Marsh & McLennan, he advised utility leaders. He led a transmission development company and was a New York Governor’s chief energy advisor. Mitnick was an expert witness appearing before utility regulatory commissions of six states, D.C., FERC, and in Canada, and taught microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics at Georgetown University.
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win..."
This famous quote from President John Kennedy's September 12, 1962 speech at Rice University inspired a historic undertaking by the nation that succeeded in seven years. Kennedy had been briefed about the many unsolved problems, any of which could have singlehandedly sidetracked the space program. But he had courage and confidence born by the extraordinary war effort when he was a Navy Lieutenant in his twenties.
I invoke Kennedy's mission, and how it moved the nation to land a man on the moon, to remind us that we are more than capable of giant leaps for mankind, to paraphrase Neil Armstrong. When our will is summoned. When our means are mobilized.
Which is an important lesson as the nation and its energy industry in particular have been summoned once again. In this instance, to dramatically decarbonize our production of energy.
Myriad Reasons We Can Fail
Like the space program, the drive to decarbonize is encountering many unsolved problems. Each has the potential to prevent a smooth landing.
So, I want to bring up another applicable and inspiring quote, sticking with the space program, from "The Martian." The last lines of the 2015 movie, spoken by Matt Damon's heroic character Mark Watney, were:
"At some point, everything's gonna go south on you. Everything's going to go south and you're going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You do the math. You solve one problem, and you solve the next one, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home."
Doesn't it seem, more than occasionally, this or that solution in the drive to decarbonize has gone south? For, to come home, the phrase Watney uses, the energy industry must build so much of so many things and at such a fast pace. There are myriad reasons we can fail to meet this moment.
In Their Shoes
Put yourself in the shoes of the builders, those wanting to put into place the new energy infrastructure that is needed. Then, think of all the quite formidable barriers blocking the way.
They can expect local community opposition almost no matter what the nature is of the planned infrastructure. They should also expect equally fierce opposition from national and regional groups that tend to join the fight.
When they come in for regulatory approvals, good luck there too. The burden is on the builder in every such forum. To prove that the project is needed. That it is needed now. To prove that the project price is affordable for the public. To prove all the variations and all the alternatives that could possibly meet the need are demonstrably inferior.
When called upon by the courts for regulatory approval appeals, they know the judicial decision will be anything but decisive. The legal processes may drag on for years.
The press will be critical. That's an automatic. Before long, public sentiment will turn negative. This can translate into uneasiness in the financial community upon which the builder's company, contractors, and partners are so dependent.
What They Need
I'm not saying you should hug an energy infrastructure builder. Those folks are fairly resilient. They need to be. They know to shrug off the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
But I am saying we should fully understand how very hard it is to win all the approvals necessary to build energy infrastructure. How the odds are stacked against those builders and their plans. How easily such plans lose momentum and funding when stalled, as opponents pile on.
Builders don't need our sympathy. But what they — and we too — do need is fact-based consideration of what they propose. Plus, a timely decision to go or no-go. That sticks.
