Udall Introduces First Senate Bill: A Push for More Green Energy

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., just introduced his first bill as a U.S. senator and its focus is no surprise – forcing utilities to produce more power from clean energy sources.

As a member of the House, Udall successfully pushed a bill that would have forced utilities to produce 15 percent of their power from clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, by the year 2020. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, passed similar legislation in the Senate, but the two chambers could never agree on a single requirement, known as a renewable electricity standard. Even if they had, President Bush would not have signed it into law.

Now, emboldened by a Democrat in the White House and a greater Democratic majority in Congress, Udall is upping the ante. His new bill would impose a 25 percent standard by the year 2025. According to Udall’s office, his bill would set the first national threshold for utilities to provide 6 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2012. The standard would then increase gradually thereafter to meet the 25 percent by 2025 goal.

“Americans want to put our nation on a path towards energy independence,” Udall said in a news release. “By establishing an RES, we can begin creating new, clean energy jobs. In addition to these jobs, studies have shown that a federal RES would reduce energy bills, revitalize rural America, slow global warming and strengthen our energy security.”

Bingaman’s energy committtee held a hearing on this very issue on Tuesday in the Senate. He also is pushing a renewable electricity standard this year, although a slightly less aggressive one than Udall’s. Bingaman’s proposal would require electric utilities to produce 20 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2021.

“The reasons to pass such a provision are as compelling as ever, if not more so,” Bingaman said in a statement. “A renewable standard can reduce our dependence on fossil fuel sources, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Such a standard diversifies our resource base, lessening the effect of supply disruptions or shortages, creating greater economic stability. It reduces our dependence on foreign sources of energy, creating greater energy security. It would also spur the development of a national green energy economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, many in rural areas.”

This initiative has been hanging around Congress for years. This could be the year that the Democrats can finally get it done.