The State Utility Commissions of nine southeastern states are urging Congress NOT to adopt a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS) because it will raise prices for consumers.
The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
They say that traditional renewable energy sources such as wind energy are not widely available in the southeast, which means utilities in those states would be forced to buy credits from the federal government. The utility commissioners point out that while over 20 states and the District of Columbia have adopted state RPS standards, states have included a wider array of energy sources in their definitions of eligible renewable resources than the proposed federal RPS.
They want states to be allowed to tailor their energy sources according to what works best for them, whether it’s wind, solar, nuclear, fuel cells, hydropower, or through energy efficiency.
—
Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) amended the troublesome language of H.R. 2337, negotiating a positive outcome for the wind energy industry in the ongoing situation concerning legislation introduced by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) that in its original form would have brought the wind energy industry to a grinding halt.
The amended language passed without opposition in an early voice vote taken in the House Natural Resources Committee. The Rahall-Markey substitute language removed the provision that would burden wind energy with an onerous new certification process and criminalize operation of any wind turbine not certified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The amended language codifies the path the industry is already working toward: development of a federal advisory body, known as the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee, that will bring together the experts needed to understand how wildlife and habitat impacts from wind projects can be minimized in a way that does not unnecessarily restrain the development of wind energy.
—
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responding to pressure from California officials and environmentalists, has slapped down a new proposal by top House Democrats that would have wiped out California’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases from cars and trucks.
In a brief but pointed statement she said, “Any proposal that affects California’s landmark efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or eliminates the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will not have my support.”
Rep. Rick Boucher, who heads a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, whose bill would block California and other states from regulating tailpipe emissions, says he is standing firm. He believes it’s important to have “unified regulations” for sources of carbon dioxide emissions.
—
The House Appropriations Committee has recommended $22 million in funding for hydropower, which would include conventional hydro, ocean, tidal and instream hydrokinetic systems.
The committee recommends:
$4 million for environmental studies for conventional and new waterpower technologies
$6 million for research, development and deployment of the new technologies
$7 million for the advanced turbine program
$5 million for hydropower resource assessments at existing dams
—
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) has introduced the National Geothermal Initiative Act of 2007 (S.1543) to advance geothermal technologies.
Loading...