Latvia has two powerful lobbies which influence our energy politics. These are the well known Latvenergo and Latvijas Gaze. Elsewhere there are similar lobbies, however other countries also have powerful lobbies, which balance the influence of energy giants on political agenda decision making.

However, while we are not involving political powers which represent a wider spectrum of society, no alternative lobbies to the ones we have will appear.

The current lobbies appeared in the last century – with the upper hand in the new century being taken over by new technological and scientific accomplishments, new lobbies which correspond with the reality of today must be created.

As the current EC environmental commissioner Stavross Dimas said in Brussels, the demands of the 8.6 billion inhabitants of our planet are already exceeding the land’s biological capacity to satisfy even 25%. That is fact. Furthermore, we do not have long to wait before the world population reaches eight billion. What will we do then?

It is known that Russia’s oil fields are running dry, and the same is happening to the Brits, Danes, and Dutch in the North sea. Russia is in need of enormous investments in order to be able to develop new fields in western and eastern Siberia. If that happens, who will pay? We, who will buy Russian oil, of course. Russia itself is planning to reduce its oil dependence (oil as an energy source amounts to 57% of Russia’s combined energy use) with the construction of a nuclear power plant. 44 of these new power plants have already been planned!

But we are planning to further increase our dependence on Russian oil! Furthermore, we are ready to sell TEC-2 to Gazprom, and, as it turns out, Dobele as well. Yet is there one former Latvian government minister who will admit that it was a big mistake – selling the nation’s remaining one-third LG share at the end of the nineties? Did that serve Latvian national interests and improve social welfare? We could ask, why then did Russia as a state keep the majority of Gazprom shares?

How is it that Germany, which has large oil and coal lobbies, has state politics which will accomplish by 2050 that 70% of all German electricity will be generated on farms?

Berlin is not waiting for the EU to tell it what to do in order avoid future threats. Apparently because Germany has a strong alternative energy lobby, which enjoys great loyalty from society.

Had we such support from society, the new blue buses in Riga would not be running on the most expensive oil in the world – diesel –, but on ethanol. This has long been done in Stockholm. The LTF leadership was surprised by this when they arrived on their first foreign visit at the beginning of 1989. But we are experimenting and experimenting with one bus which drives around Riga, and cannot figure out whether it is possible to drive without fossil fuel.

As established in Riga at the recent conference Biogazes razosana Latvija, iespejas un perspektivi (Biofuel production in Latvia, possibilities and perspectives), hundreds of buses in Sweden run on biofuel, which is cheaper than fossil fuel, saving the government money and not polluting the environment. Furthermore, biofuel does not cause cancer, and its use would create new jobs right here in Latvia.

Latvia already has a good handicap. We have a lot of green energy. Around 35% of all energy produced comes from our power-plants. But, utilising the potential of our forests and empty fields with the help of the government, why can’t we raise this percentage not to 42%, as recommended by Brussels, but to 52% and more?

Why has Denmark been able to set a goal, that in 2075 they will no longer import fossil fuel? Sweden is taking similar action. But the US is preparing a package of laws which would be most powerful profit redistribution in its history – we are talking of over a trillion dollars! Namely, to achieve radical changes in current energy politics, which would make the US an independent country in the area of securing energy. If not this year, then this type of law will be ratified in the coming years.

In the recent Latvija ka alternativas energijas lielvalsts conference organised by BSF, it was revealed that Latvia is country with abundant forests and fields, which have enough energy potential to make us an alternative energy superpower. There is only one question – do we have the necessary political will to accomplish this? And are we able to resist the influence of current lobbies, which present other data?

The question – who will pay for it – has no place. Either we pay others, or ourselves – that is the question. Furthermore, there is money. We are still ready to invest one billion lats into the Ignalina power-station!

Translated from Latvian by Viktorija Graudiņa.

Published in Diena June 18, 2008.