GOOD NEWS FOR NEW ENERGY, GOOD NEWS FOR THE U.S. OF A.

The House of Representatives has this afternoon passed Energy Legislation which includes the Udall-Platts amendment requiring private utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass, wave-tide-current and geothermal energies.

The passage of this legislation, as amended, is expected to give a huge boost to the development of renewable energy industries. The requirement for renewables-generated electricity, known as a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) or Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), is expected to add hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs, decrease dependence on foreign energy sources, offer great economic opportunities to builders of power transmission and rural landowners, and cut back on the emission of greenhouse gases thought to be the cause of global warming.



Opponents claim the legislation will cause increases in utility rates while advocates cite numerous studies finding otherwise.

Later in the day, the House passed energy tax legislation that shifts some $16 billion in federal revenues to incentives for renewables by reducing incentives and subsidies to oil and gas producers. The House is now in recess until after Labor Day.

The final stage of energy legislation will come in the Fall when House and Senate leaders from both parties meet in conference to reconcile differences in bills passed by the separate bodies this Summer. Insiders intimate that the Democrats have positioned themselves as carefully as possible by passing auto fuel efficiency standards in the Senate bill and renewables requirements in the House bill with substantial legislation incentivizing anti-climate change measures in both bills. The strong position is said to be necessary for Democrats when they confront a White House long understood to be close to the fossil fuels industries and a President even now being urged to veto the energy legislation.

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