nuclear-news

A broad assault on these laws, which operate uniquely but in general terms require utilities to source a growing amount of renewable energy, is being waged by thoughtful free market devotees or ruthless corporate interests, one or the other. (You can decide which; just know that the American Legislative Exchange Council has been right in the middle of it all in most states, as it was in North Carolina, along with the Heartland Institute, Grover Norquist, the John Locke Foundation and others, all with fossil fuel backing, according to the Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch.)

Remarkably, the bill to gut the RPS failed even to get out of the committee chaired by its sponsor. With six Republicans voting against it, the tally in the Committee on Public Utilities and Energy was a resounding 18-13 against moving the bill forward.

The anti-RPS folks were aghast……..

Renewable energy advocates in the Tar Heel State had a slightly different take.“The vote’s outcome and the fact that it occurred in the Committee chaired by the bill’s own sponsor, Chairman Mike Hager, not only helps to secure a path forward for continued economic development in the renewable energy sector, it also showed the strength of the voices from across the state that spoke out against the misguided effort to have North Carolina turn away from a promising clean energy future,” the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association said in a statement…… http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nc-renewable-energy-standard-scores-surprise-win