For the first time ever, a bipartisan group of 29 state governors sent a list of recommendations to the US Congress urging the adoption of a federal renewable energy standard (RES).
The Governor's Wind Energy Coalition yesterday, called for numerous policies in addition to an RES, that would require a minimum supply of renewable energy in teh US. The governors' recommendations are meant to spur the development of the nations' renewable energy industry. These include:
- Develop New Interstate Electric Transmission System Infrastructure as Needed to Provide Access to Premier Renewable Energy Resources both On-Shore and Offshore.
- Fully Support Coastal, Deep Water, and Offshore Wind Energy Technology and Transmission Research and Development.
- Streamline Permitting Processes for Both Offshore and On-Shore Wind Energy Development Projects.
- Expand the U.S. Department of Energy's Work with the States and the Wind Industry to Accelerate Innovation.
- Extend the Treasury Department Grant Program in Lieu of the Investment Tax Credit, and Adopt a Long-Term Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit With Provisions to Broaden the Pool of Eligible Investors.
Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri, vice chair of the organization said: Version: “These
recommendations could not be more timely.
Congressional action on the energy bill seems to have stalled. It is our hope that these
recommendations--and the national bipartisan consensus they represent--will
advance the energy deliberations now under way in Congress.”
The full presentation of recommendations is avilable as a pdf.
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U.S. environmental groups are trying to expand a climate change bill being written in the Senate to help foreign countries pay for enforcing laws they already have in place for protecting forests as one way of reducing carbon pollution.
Read Reuters coverage at the link below.
