Udall Commends Bingaman on Committee Passage of Renewable Electricity Standard

Pledges to Work to Increase Renewable Energy on the Floor

WASHINGTON -U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-N.M., today applauded the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, under the extraordinary and diligent leadership of Chairman Jeff Bingaman, for concluding weeks of legislative mark-up and producing comprehensive energy legislation that includes a federal Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). In the Senate, Udall has introduced similar legislation to set an RES of 25 percent by 2025, the same goal called for by President Barack Obama. As a member of the House of Representatives, Udall also championed the passage of an RES three times.

Today, the committee approved a federal RES with a goal of 15 percent by 2021 to promote the scale up and deployment of existing, cost-effective renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and more. The committee RES would allow energy efficiency measures to make up over 25 percent of the requirement, reducing the renewable standard. The committee faced and successfully rejected attempts to strip the RES from the Bingaman bill on a bipartisan basis.

"Sen. Bingaman is a great asset to the State of New Mexico and the U.S. Senate, and his tireless work to report an RES from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee proves it," said Udall. "It was a difficult job, and I am going to work with him to ensure that we pass a strong RES on the Senate floor in order to jump start a clean energy economy."

The next stop for the legislation is consideration on the Senate floor, where it may be considered as part of a comprehensive clean energy and climate change package, that would include legislation to be considered by Udall's Committee on Environment and Public Works.

"In the coming days and weeks, I intend to work with clean energy advocates to rally support in the full Senate for increasing the RES as laid out in my legislation, the House bill, and by President Obama. Sen. Bingaman accomplished the challenging task of making sure the RES made it through Committee and with his support I believe that we can make it better when it reaches the full Senate for a vote."

The House of Representatives is currently considering the American Clean Energy Security (ACES) Act, which includes a 20 percent RES by 2020 along with a cap-and-trade greenhouse gas permit program.

As a Congressman, Udall succeeded in building a bipartisan coalition to pass a groundbreaking 15 percent by 2020 RES for the first time ever in the House. His measure eventually passed the chamber three times in various bills before being stripped out during Senate consideration of each.