Congress must set a national renewable-power standard and revamp the electric grid to help the burgeoning U.S. wind-energy industry reach its potential and compete globally, governors from 29 states said.
A jumble of state laws should be replaced by a federal edict, according to a report from the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, which includes California, Florida and Massachusetts. The plan would help spur development and efficiency, which would create jobs, curb greenhouse-gas emissions and reduce dependency on oil imports, the coalition said.
On March 5, the state Senate approved a measure to increase Colorado’s renewable energy standard (RES) to 30% by 2020, and on March 8th, the House finalized the bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Ritter for his signature.
The legislation confirms Colorado’s leadership in nurturing the development of clean, renewable energy just six years after voters approved the state’s first RES – 10% by 2015. In 2006 the state legislature doubled the RES to 20% by 2020, and with enactment of the latest measure only California will have a set a more ambitious state requirement than Colorado, 33% by 2020.
You’ve heard of greenwashing, but maybe you should also be on the lookout for “cleanwashing.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the lead proponents of a climate bill, wants the Senate to include coal and nuclear power in a so-called “clean energy” mandate.
Graham is circulating draft legislation that would replace a provision in the current Senate climate bill requiring utilities to produce a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources—known as a renewable electricity standard, or RES. Graham’s proposed mandate instead involves ramping up the amount of electricity from “clean” sources over time—13 percent by 2012, 25 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2050. But the big question is what “clean” means. According to Graham’s draft language, new nuclear power and coal with carbon-capture technology would qualify, in addition to renewable sources like wind, solar, biomass and hydropower. This would be a boon to the nuclear industry, which has pushed hard to be included as part of any clean energy mandate.
“I think you can expect everything but cap-and-trade,” Grassley said in a conference call with agricultural reporters. “I think it’s fair to say that there will be an energy bill taken up.”
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The Iowa Republican said that the bill may include a renewable electricity standard as a key component, a provision which would require utility companies to generate a certain portion of their energy from renewable resources by a target date.
Grassley acknowledged that that provision may not necessarily be popular, but that there may be room for compromise among senators.
“Now I think it has a tough time getting through the Senate,” he said. “I like renewable portfolio standards, and I would vote for some compromise in that area.”
Update — from a transcript of the conference call reporters:
QUESTION: And, you don’t think the climate bill will get out of the Senate?
GRASSLEY: I don’t believe so.
I believe that with the controversy that came up after the House passed it, and the — the lack of any accomplishment whatsoever — regardless of the official statements put out, there was no accomplishment of anything in Copenhagen, I think it doesn’t spell a good opportunity.
And then you have the e-mails being released, and that’s another factor. And even though they have not been fully analyzed at this point, I think they’ve also contributed to the negative prediction.
“It brings attention to a lot of the scientists that are saying global warming is more natural than man-made, although they don’t exclude man-made as being some addition to it, but is it enough to make a difference?” he said.
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“And see that’s what the e-mails coming out of the British university seem to raise questions about – is the intellectual honesty of the peer review process. Because they very openly say they want to quash some of the opposition and the publishing of the opposition,” Grassley said.
A bill seeking to control the state’s contribution to climate change has been introduced in the Legislature.
Gov Jim Doyle and supporters are holding a press conference this morning in a just a few minutes on the bill, which they say would help Wisconsin become a leader in green jobs. But opponents of the bill say it could put a job-killing burden on state businesses already struggling because of the economic downturn.
Among other changes, the sweeping 174-page bill would mandate higher renewable energy use in fuels and power generation and 75 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and would require that by 2030 each newly constructed residential or commercial building will use no more energy than is generated on-site using renewable resources.
The single most important rural economic development initiative before Congress this year is renewable energy legislation. No other debate in Congress has greater potential to create jobs and directly impact rural revitalization in the Midwest and Great Plains.
Recently the Center for Rural Affairs analyzed Department of Energy research on the economic impact of wind energy development that would result from a twenty percent Renewable Electricity Standard – a requirement that power companies obtain twenty percent of the electricity that they sell from renewable sources, like the wind.
More than 850,000 manufacturing jobs at firms already in existence across all 50 states could be created with the enactment of a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) of 25 percent by 2025, according to a report issued by the Blue Green Alliance.
The report, which is an update of an earlier analysis, estimates state-by-state the number of jobs that could be created with the installation of 18,500 megawatts (MW) per year of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass plants, which is the rough equivalent to the supply delivered under a 25 percent by 2025 RES. The report also details the potential job growth in all 50 states in each of four renewable industries.
And according to Get Energy Smart Now, he gave quite a speech:
Senator Merkley speaks, today and elsewhere, knowledgeably and forcefully about Global Warming, providing a litany of items that should part of the agenda moving ahead. Amid these items and opportunity, Senator Merkley made some key points. But, he provided a straightforward shorthand of what must happen.
If I am going to simplify the issue, we have to quit taking geologic carbon and turning it into atmospheric carbon.
Right now, Senator Merkley is looking to the developments in the House with the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act. And, evidently, he isn’t very pleased by what we see. He stated that the bill must have a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), a 25% by 2025 “You’re probably all aware that we don’t have that in the current drbill.”
In the past, people have described the Senate as the place where a good House bill goes to die. … We need to change that. we need to reestablish the Senate is place where an okay bill goes to get vastly improved.
Senator Merkley also emphasized that “We need a polluter’s pay strategy … we need a price to pay if you’re putting carbon dioxide in the air. Even more, we need an incentitve to reduce putting carbon in the air.”
Roll Call is reporting that Representatives Waxman (D-CA) and Boucher (D-VA) have reached an agreement on several critical provisions of the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The article also confirms roughly what was expected in terms of timeline:
“We have resolved a good number of the issues,” Waxman said after a meeting with committee Democrats, adding that the bill remains on track to clear his panel next week. Opening statements are planned for Thursday with a marathon markup beginning on Monday.
“I am optimistic. I believe we will have the votes to pass the bill [next week],” Waxman said.
Sadly, in order to secure the votes he needed from his own party, Representative Waxman was forced to compromise on some key provisions of the legislation.
Bottom line: As the American Clean Energy and Security Act clears its first procedural hurdle next week (the House Energy and Commerce Committee), it will have already been significantly weakened. It is simply not as strong as a) Obama’s campaign promises, b) what Europe is doing or c) what scientists say is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Incredibly, even with massive majorities in both branches of Congress, Democratic Leadership is unable to pass a bill that does what is necessary. As I’ve mentioned previously, polluting industries continue to dominate the legislative process by bankrolling candidates who vote against environmental regulations. This problem will not go away until we fundamentally change Congress.
I’ll reserve judgment on whether I think the package moving through Energy and Commerce is worth supporting until the full details of the agreement are released on Thursday. For the time being I’ll just note that I’m extremely disappointed with the details that have emerged so far. President Obama needs to take steps to ensure that America’s climate policy is taken seriously at the international negotiations this December in Copenhagen. If he intends to expend any political capital to make that a reality he needs to do so now, before so-called moderate Democrats from coal country succeed in making the bill ineffective.
