Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
Passes
national renewable electricity standard for the first time
Today
the House of Representatives voted 241-172
to pass “The New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security,
and Consumer Protection Act” (H.R. 3221), including an amendment to
establish a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). The passage of the
RES along with the package of legislation included in H.R. 3221 will make
significant steps toward a cleaner and more secure energy future for the United States.
“We applaud today’s clean energy breakthrough in the U.S.
Congress,” said U.S. PIRG Washington DC office director Anna
Aurilio. “The House of Representatives improved a good energy bill
by adding a 15% renewable electricity standard that will dramatically increase
clean renewable power in this country,” continued Aurilio.
Despite massive opposition by coal-fired utility companies and their allies,
a broad coalition of environmentalists, labor unions, farm groups, clean energy
developers and investors was able to pass the RES amendment 220-190.
H.R. 3221 would require that utilities generate 15% of their
electricity from renewable energy such as wind, solar, or biomass, or through
energy efficiency savings by 2020. The amendment was offered by
Representatives Udall (NM), Rodriguez (TX), and Platts (PA) and others.
Specifically the RES:
·
requires that utilities generate a
gradually increasing amount of their electric generation from renewable energy
sources including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal, starting in 2010.
·
establishes a national system for
trading renewable energy credits.
·
allows up to 27% of their targeted
requirement through energy efficiency savings (the equivalent of up to 4% of
the 15% requirement).
Other important provisions in the bill include:
- The Natural
Resources Title (Title VII) which will take important steps toward
restoring sound stewardship to the management of our public lands,
ensuring responsible domestic energy development, developing alternative
energy sources, and helping America’s
fish and wildlife, public lands, coasts, and oceans adapt to global
warming.
- Title IX sets
aggressive targets for strengthening state building energy efficiency
codes, adopts beneficial reforms to Department of Energy (DOE) authority
to issue energy efficiency standards for appliance and equipment products,
and establishes new efficiency standards for products such as light bulbs,
dishwashers and clothes washers.
Missing from the legislation considered today was an improvement in
fuel economy. The energy bill passed by the Senate in June includes fuel
economy provisions, which will be brought to conference with the House bill.
“We applaud the House for promoting energy efficiency and
renewable energy in this bill. We look forward to seeing Congress pass a
comprehensive energy bill that addresses energy efficiency, fuel economy and
renewable energy. We urge the Congress to add the fuel economy provisions
passed by the Senate in the final bill,” said Aurilio.
—30—
U.S. PIRG is the federation of state Public Interest
Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest
advocacy organizations.
