A Renewable Electricity Standard is Not Stimulating
Nicolas Loris /
In delivering his speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-N.M is introducing a plan for even more green energy and more green jobs – on top of the stimulus package. The plan?
According a release from U.S. Senator Tom Udall’s office, Tom continued his fight to enact a federal Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) into law by introducing legislation that would require utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources by 2025. The bill, Udall’s first since being elected to the Senate, would set the first national threshold for utilities to provide 6 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2012, and gradually increases thereafter to meet the 25 percent by 2025 goal.”
You can find his speech here. On a positive note Senator Udall included some domestic drilling and more nuclear to add to the nation’s energy portfolio. But a federal renewable electricity standard is a policy that has been introduced and failed in Congress before and it doesn’t deserve support this time. In reality, the mandate to use wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources is a market-distorting policy that diverts resources away actual energy producing sources.