State Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson said Friday that he agrees with congressional Democrats who want to cut carbon emissions by more than 80 percent over the next four decades to fight climate change.

But he doesn't agree that current legislation in Congress is the way to do it.

"I think climate change is a legitimate concern. I think carbon is a concern," Johnson, a Republican from Mitchell, said during an energy conference at Mount Rushmore. "This bill is not where we need to go."

Johnson was one of three speakers in the morning session of the conference, which was organized and hosted by the Mount Rushmore Institute. It concludes today with discussions on energy development potential on Native American lands.

The other speakers Friday morning were Matt McGovern of Sioux Falls, director of Repower South Dakota, and Allen Grosboll, a senior policy analyst in Illinois for the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

McGovern leads the advocacy effort in South Dakota for the reform plan in Congress. He disagreed with Johnson on the bill, arguing that it fights climate change while promoting development of wind and other cleaner energy sources that would benefit South Dakota.

"The bill would produce 1.7 million new clean energy jobs, including 5,000 in South Dakota," McGovern said.

South Dakota has great wind power potential with benefits that would go beyond the actual "wind farms" themselves, McGovern said. Thousands of wind generators and improved transmission networks would create jobs and new businesses to serve the industry, a trend already being seen in eastern South Dakota, he said.

That also would help the country move away from more coal electrical generation, which emits carbon dioxide that accelerates climate change and particulate matter that causes pollution, McGovern said.

Johnson agreed that such alternative energy development is important. The PUC is working on that now. But along with helpful provisions to encourage development of new energy sources, the bill currently before the U.S. Senate over penalizes existing ones, Johnson said.

"I just don't know how you create more jobs by eliminating options and taxing more," he said.

There is no doubt the legislation will increase the cost of energy for consumers, a reality the Obama administration has acknowledged, Johnson said. The question is how much. The PUC estimated a 48 percent increase in electricity costs to South Dakotans under an earlier version of the bill. That has likely gone down with bill amendments, but it isn't clear how much, Johnson said. Whatever the final bill, it's a sign of things to come for energy consumers, he said.

"In a very real sense, I think the era of cheap energy is over," Johnson said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com