A big motivating factor in my run for the U.S. Senate was because it failed to pass the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) I fought to pass three times in the House. That's why the first bill I introduced as New Mexico's new senator was a strong RES.
Although both the House and Senate have managed to pass similar RES legislation in the past, a national standard has never been signed into law.
That's why I'm pleased to be part of a bipartisan effort to enact an RES in this Congress, led by my fellow New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.
We need to act nationally if we want the industry to create jobs in America. Setting a minimum requirement for utility companies to generate 15 percent of the electricity they sell to consumers with renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass by 2020 will create tens of thousands of jobs, most of them in manufacturing.
15 percent isn't as high as the goals I set out in my bill, but in today's U.S. Senate, which requires 60 votes to get anything done, this is a good bill that represents our best chance to get America running on homegrown energy in 2010.
Our lack of a national RES has allowed Europe, Japan, China and other companies to move further and faster than the U.S. toward a clean energy economy. And they're doing it using the technology we created.
New Mexico has led the way on the RES by setting a 20 percent standard by 2020. As a result, we are seeing increases in both renewable electricity generation and manufacturing across the state.
Passing the bipartisan bill we introduced this week would produce the same effect across the nation.
