"Renewable Energy" Requirement Dropped

In late September, House and Senate negotiators agreed to drop a component of a broader energy bill that would have mandated incremental increases in commercial utilities' use of renewable resources to generate electric power, from a minimum of 1% in 2005 to a minimum of 10% in 2019. The provision had been originally written in the Democrat-controlled Senate and had been retained in the version the Republican-controlled Senate passed in July, but House leaders, particularly those from states with strong oil and gas interests, objected strongly to it. The main beneficiary of the provision would have been the wind-power generating industry, but biomass power generators might also have benefited.

Some senators have suggested that an amendment to restore the provision might be offered when the bill returns to the Senate floor -- but even advocates suggest such a maneuver would be a long shot at best.

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