Coalition Wants Renewable Energy Standard
Governors ask for Congress and President to step up for wind energy.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 22, 2010
The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, a bipartisan group of 29 governors from across the country, has asked Congress and the President to adopt a national renewable energy standard - a minimum requirement for the use of renewable electricity. Their lead recommendation focuses on streamlined permitting for both onshore and offshore wind power projects and an upgraded interstate electric transmission system.
Also, the Coalition asks that the nation's utilities be required to provide a minimum 10% of their electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and biopower, by 2012. Over half of the states in the nation already have enacted some form of renewable electricity standard. Iowa Governor Chet Culver, who chairs the Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, says he backs a national renewable energy standard of 25% by 2025, which he says could create more than 300,000 green jobs.
In its recommendations, the Coalition emphasizes the goal of providing at least 20% of the nation's electric needs from wind power by 2030. A recent assessment of wind's prospects and impacts released by the U.S. Department of Energy concluded that the United States could meet this goal.
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