REPUBLICANS HANG RENEWABLES UP

Big Utilities are among the most vocal lobbyists against the RPS. What does that say?

As long as the energy bill is being argued by the Senate (and then the House, and then the conference committee), the opportunity for citizens to take action remains. Help bring the New Energy economy to life at POWER OF WIND

Senate hits impasse on renewable energy
H. Josef Hebert, June 14, 2007 (AP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Tom Gray, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
One kind of renewable or another, it is either these... (click to enlarge)
WHAT
Senate Democrats aggressively advocate a stipulation in the Energy Bill currently being worked out for a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requiring 15% of all electricity to be generated from renewables by 2020. Republicans oppose the idea. In the give and take of politics, the Democratic majority commited to the RPS is not large enough to sustain it. Democratic leaders promise to bring it up again next week but there is a lot of negotiating over Big Energy between now and next week.

WHEN
Energy bill debate ongoing, disputed RPS provision set aside June 14, may re-emerge next week, depending on how the deal-making goes.
It does not look like work on the energy bill will be done by the July 4 recess.
RPS would extend through 2020.

WHERE
US Senate, Washington, D.C.

WHY
- Example of the political give and take: The RPS provision was set aside on the same day a vote defeated a Republican proposal to allow gas drilling in mid-Atlantic coast waters long under moratorium. There is also dickering over stronger CAFÉ standards and renewable fuels.
- Democrats would need 60 votes to push the RPS through.
- Republicans claim an RPS would raise the price of power. The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration says it would not. A Wood Mackenzie study suggests an RPS would save taxpayers $100 billion dollars over the next 2 decades.
- 2.4% of US energy presently comes from renewables.
- Bingaman claims the RPS would cut greenhouse gas emissions 7%.
- Arguing some states don’t have 15% renewables, Domenici proposed an amendment counting nuclear, “clean” coal and conservation measures as renewables. It was defeated.
...or these. (click to enlarge)
QUOTES
Domenici: "I'm not impressed with wind being the national energy source for America…"
Gray: “The Bingaman Renewable Energy Standard would:
- Reduce global warming pollution from electric power plants;
- Create brand new manufacturing industries with thousands of new jobs;
- Revitalize rural communities through the increased tax base and payments to landowners that wind and other renewable energy projects bring;
- Help meet America's steadily growing electricity demand;
- Save consumers more than $100 billion through 2026.”