The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday approved a comprehensive energy package that would create a federal renewable energy standard (RES) and give the federal government authority to site high-voltage power lines, if states fail to do so.
The bill advanced by a vote of 11-8. It requires utilities to produce 15% of their electricity from wind, solar and other renewable source by 2021.
In addition, the bill would open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and require the Department of Energy to create an emergency reserve of 30 million barrels of petroleum product supplies, including gasoline and diesel fuel.
"None of us given the chance to be a single author would have written the bill that we have written in this committee in the last 12 weeks," Bingaman said. "The end product I believe is a solid piece of work."
The full Senate is likely to take the bill up this fall, after the House votes on its version of an energy bill. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill that also calls for a RES of roughly 15% plus an additional 5% in energy efficiency. Both of these bills are weaker than the goals set by the Obama administration of 10% renewable energy by 2012 and 25% by 2025.
"This is an extremely weak bill, the only reason I'm voting for it is to see that we can strengthen it on the floor," said Senator Bernie Sander (I-VT).
A dozen environmental groups signed a letter opposing the Senate bill because the RES is too lax. They said it allows noncompliance fees to go back to companies, exempts new nuclear plants and certain new coal plants from baseline calculations, and allows energy-efficiency savings to substitute for renewable energy.
Read additional coverage in the Washington Post article below.
