Energy and climate bills inch closer toward final approval

Energy and climate change remained front and center last week, as the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources finished weeks of work and approved a mammoth energy bill that seeks to accelerate the introduction of new clean energy technologies.

The measure would require utilities to produce an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources, beginning at 3% in 2011, and growing to 15% in 2021. Utilities producing fewer than 4 megawatt-hours per year are exempted from the “renewable standard.”

The Senate bill would revamp the existing Department of Energy loan guarantee program, establishing a “Clean Energy Investment Fund” to be used to support more technology deployments. The legislation also creates a new entity housed in DOE—the Clean Energy Deployment Administration —that would provide financial expertise to help create an attractive investment climate for the development and deployment of clean energy technologies.

Other provisions would encourage improvements in energy efficiency improvements by industry and by consumers, and speed the development of a new “smart grid” to accommodate widely distributed electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Opposites attract

With the Democrats’ energy and climate bills gaining traction, House Republicans introduced their alternative to the 946-page climate and energy bill that was approved along party lines in a key committee at the end of May.

The GOP bill would promote expansion of nuclear power as an alternative to mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions that are proposed in the climate change measure approved by the Committee on Energy and Commerce in May .

Introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the bill would establish a goal for 100 new US reactors to be built over 20 years. It would also provide incentives for domestic and offshore oil production and allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has indicated she wants the House to vote on the Democrats’ bill before the 4 July recess.

David Kramer