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As New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman works through his last year in the U.S. Senate, he continues to push initiatives that are near to his heart.
Last week, he unveiled his Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012. As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he is putting in his last effort to get big utilities to generate more power from clean and renewable energy sources. The act would require utilities that sell greater than 2 million megawatt-hours of electricity per year to show that a certain percentage of that electricity was generated at a facility put into service after 1991 using renewable energy, qualified renewable biomass, natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power or qualified waste-to-energy sources. The act would take effect in 2015, requiring 8 percent of the nation’s utilities to generate 24 percent of their power from these sources. That would increase 3 percentage points each year through 2035. By 2025, 13 percent of utilities would have to comply. The bill sets up an incentive system where all technologies compete on the basis of their carbon emissions. No particular company or technology would be favored. No special deals like Solyndra, the bankrupt solar startup that got a $528 million government loan. The private sector would decide how to meet the goal. For every unit of clean electricity generated, a utility would get a credit it could sell to another utility. The free market would set the price for the credits, although there is a ceiling. With a financial carrot, existing clean generators will want to generate more and companies with older plants will have an incentive to replace them. Although Bingaman’s bill doesn’t have a Republican co-sponsor — and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, doesn’t support it — moderate Republicans like Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., and former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici have supported or introduced similar proposals in the past. Lugar’s bill in the last Congress had Murkowski signed on as a co-sponsor. Bingaman’s bill faces an uphill battle, but the U.S. must move toward generating more energy with clean and renewable sources. This plan helps put the U.S. on a slow glide path to energy self reliance. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
