A Tribute to One of the Lions Who Helped Us Arrive Where We Are Today

Scott Sklar, President, The Stella Group, Ltd.
August 15, 2011 | 5 Comments

On Sunday August 8, former Senator Mark Hatfield, an anti-war Republican from Oregon, died at age 89. In his 30 years in the Senate, Hatfield was not only one of the Senate chamber's most consistent voices against the war in Vietnam, but he was also an ardent advocate of environmental protection and renewable energy. In my nine years as a Senate aide in the 1970's, I got to know him well.

During the 1980’s when President Reagan was trying to zero out the renewable energy and efficiency programs at the Department of Energy, pull down The White House Solar panels (within six months of his election), and firing Denis Hayes as Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now called NREL), politics for the green industries were pretty dismal.

We were in a political freefall, and I expect, the U.S. would have lost almost all federal programs had it not been for the resolve from the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mark Hatfield. I remember a meeting in his Senate office after the federal programs for renewable energy received two years of excruciating cuts, over 70 percent. I told him then that if we went below this dismal point, it really didn’t matter anymore - the U.S. program would be all but dead. He listened somberly, announced he would draw the line - and he did so. Not only were renewable programs salvaged but some even increased under his oversight.

Not only did he hold the line, but when President Bush (#1) was elected, the whole tenor changed. Bush senior supported these programs, working with Senator Hatfield to increase the U.S. energy efficiency and renewable energy research capacity. Bush also supported an Energy Bill that extended renewable energy tax credits, thereby setting the foundation of policy tools and incentives we enjoy today.

I read of the Senator’s passing with sadness, not only for the great actions he took on behalf of our industries, but the fact of what a genuinely good and caring person he was. This was a time when our leaders were actually leaders, not combatants. They took time to know each other, debate each other, socialize with each other -- actually bask in the soup of politics and ideas.

So I hope you all take a minute to wish one of our early supporters well. If I could bestow a purple heart for renewable energy, Mark Hatfield would surely be one of the recipients.

For the last eleven years, Scott Sklar has run The Stella Group, Ltd. is a strategic technology optimization and policy firm for clean distributed energy users and companies. Scott Sklar is Chair of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and serves on the (non-profit) Boards of Directors of, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and the Renewable Energy Policy Project, and The Solar Foundation. Sklar is an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University teaching a unique multi-disciplinary sustainable energy course. On November 4, 2010 Secretary Locke approved Sklar’s appointment to the Department of Commerce Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC). He can be reached at solarsklar@aol.com.

5 Comments

Al C. Rich
August 19, 2011

Hi Scott: From the very start of knowing you 28 years ago, I remember how fondly you referred to Senator Hatfield. Truly he was an exceptional man in every way but we in the renewable energy field owe him a special homage. Senator Hatfield had an unflinching dedication to what was right. I join you in sadness in his passing, wishing his family and him well, and in remembering the great leader and caring person that he was. We in the renewable energy industry know him as a Purple Heart Hero. Thank you for your tribute.

lawrence elliott
August 16, 2011

I know that mentioning Hitler or Nazi is not considered nice among mixed company or something but Anonymous is not that far off. Anyone who has done any study at all of the techniques used by the Nazis realizes that there is little if any difference between their initial techniques used to gain power and the current crop posing as GOP candidates.Generate FEAR (oh those nasty Moslems will kill your kids,and thus the fabricated 911) love of WAR and MILITARISM (thus the stage show of Iraq and Afghanistan) POVERTY for the masses to accept any crumbs offered by a powerful leader (thus the fabricated stock market crash and treasury theft) CONTROL the voting booth (thus the Diebold machines and no paper trail) etc etc. In fact back then they were actually at a disadvantage in that Joseph Gobbels had to go it alone in his propaganda efforts to pull off their plans. Now the GOP has a multimillion dollar propaganda system known as FOX Channel and LImbaugh and his clones. Just remember that those who fail to remember history are forced to repeat it.Douglas it may offend your senses to hear the words but it's better to bring it out in the open than avoid it and suffer the consequences of playing Ostrich.

Douglas Prince
August 16, 2011

Now, now, anon. Let's not go down the Hitler-path, okay? I'm as much annoyed with the current GOP as the next thinker, but let's not start with that nonsense.

ANONYMOUS
August 16, 2011

I've been living in Oregon for about 3 months now, having relocated from Arizona. Only Oregon could spawn an anti-war Republican who actually thought for himself. Well, maybe not only Oregon, but Arizona could never do it. The angry nationalist far right wing arm thrusting goose steppers in that state see war as an inalienable right of passage for each politician. Even McCain, who appeared at one time to have some unpurchased thoughts in his head, caved to Big Money and Big Oil during his bizzare run in '08 with Michelle Palin or Sarah Bachmann or whomever that poser was. Listening to Texas Gov. Perry speak is like listening to W all over again. What the hell has happended to the Repubs? Remember, Hitler was elected overwhelming by a democracy, he did not ascend to power through a coup. But it can't happen here, can it?

lawrence elliott
August 16, 2011

I certainly second your comments Scott. Mark Hatfield certainly was one of those rare politicians that come along all too infrequently.

Although he was a member of a party that has been the party exclusively representing the ultra wealthy at the expense of all else, he refused to be a party lap dog. That took real courage and conviction. His party was and still is the party who does the bidding of Economic Royalists.

Last week a group calling themselves Republican's, campaigning to be president, got up on a stage in Iowa and displayed for all to see just how much the current crop of Republicans are not only both licking the boots of the wealthy but are truly candidates picked for their single digit IQ's and their total lack of any principles or values of any kind. Mark Hatfield if running today would have not lowered himself to be on the same stage. As an Oregonian I look at our two current senators and then compare them to the corporate whores such as the 'Human Turtle' Mitch McConnell from Tennessee and have to ask "who the hell is voting in those states"? Disgraceful.

Add Your Comments

To add your comments you must sign-in or create a free account.

Scott Sklar

Scott, founder and president of The Stella Group, Ltd., in Washington, DC, is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, the...