Glimmer of hope for US renewables law

2 September 2010
There may be hope for enactment of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) in the US this year after all.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) surprised many renewable energy advocates in July by excluding the RES in his narrow energy bill, because he did not see the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural efforts to block action in the Senate.

But after weeks of intense lobbying, Reid this week indicated he sees bipartisan support for a RES and is willing to consider including it in his bill, which he plans to discuss further this month as Congress returns for a three-week period before election campaigns.

Reid’s statement is a sure sign that energy legislation featuring an RES is “still very much in play” and can pass the Senate, said American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode.

The lobbying came from a diverse coalition of labour groups, utilities, trade associations and environmental activists. In a letter last month to Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the coalition said the US is falling behind China and the EU on clean energy investments. The effects of the federal government’s indecision on the US industry are already visible, the letter said, with wind installations decreasing 71% in the second quarter compared to last year.

“The need for an RES could not be more urgent,” the letter stated.

Independent observers believe there is a chance to enact a federal RES at the level featured in a bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and adopted by the Senate energy and natural resources (ENR) committee in June 2009. It would require 15% of US energy to be produced from renewable resources by 2021, but allow utilities to meet up to 4% of this requirement through energy efficiency initiatives.

A more ambitious target would require the inclusion of nuclear energy and carbon capture and sequestration projects as renewable resources, they said.

Gloria Gonzalez