7 Senators Push for Federal Energy Standard of 30% Renewables by 2020

Just because you know doing something is a long shot doesn't mean you shouldn't try. That's the attitude of seven Democratic senators who introduced a bill in Congress this week that would set a federal Renewable Energy Standard (RES).
Spearheaded by New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, and co-sponsored by fellow New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennett, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the bill would require that utilities generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It would start with an 8 percent requirement in 2016 and rise gradually. Udall has introduced the bill each year since 2002, first as a representative and then as a senator, and was able to steer it to passage in the House in 2007 before it stalled.
"A national Renewable Electricity Standard will help slow utility rate increases and boost private investment in states like New Mexico—all while combatting climate change," said Udall. "Investing in homegrown clean energy jobs just makes sense, and that's why I'm continuing my fight for a national RES."
"Our record droughts, burning forests, dying fish and melting ice caps all point to the urgency of taking on climate change," added Merkley. "The only answer is burning less fossil fuel and moving toward renewable energy. Senator Udall's bill would accelerate that transition and is a key to saving both our economy and our environment from the ravages of climate change."
Whitehouse, a longtime environmental champion who has been making a weekly speech about climate on the floor of the Senate each week for more than two and a half years, also touted the bill's benefits.
"To protect public health and address climate change, and to boost our economy, we need to move away from fossil fuels and transition to clean, renewable energy," he said. "A national renewable electricity standard will support this transition and speed the growth of industries like wind and solar that are creating good jobs in Rhode Island and across the nation. I'm happy to support this bill, and I thank Senator Udall for his leadership."
According to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the RES bill would increase renewable energy generation 265 percent over current levels by 2030; support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the wind, solar, geothermal and biopower industries; save customers more than $25 billion on their utility bills; generate more than $100 billion additional capital investments; and provide billions in new local tax revenues.
"Our analysis shows a 30 percent by 2030 national RES is achievable and would provide substantial consumer, economic and climate benefits," said Jeff Deyette, senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The Udall/Markey proposal builds on the success of existing state policies to accelerate the innovation and investments needed for the U.S. to transition to a clean energy economy."
Environmental and clean energy industry groups were understandably excited about the legislation.
"The American clean energy economy is already responsible for hundreds of thousands of American jobs, billions in investment and power for millions of homes and businesses that don't pollute our air, water and climate," said John Coequyt, director of federal climate programs for the Sierra Club. "The Sierra Club is proud to support Senator Udall and Senator Markey's leadership to build on this success with legislation that will create even more jobs while protecting the health of our families and our communities from climate disruption."
"We strongly support Senator Udall's introduction of the Renewable Electricity Standard Act and applaud his leadership in promoting renewable energy nationwide," said Tom Kiernan, CEO of American Wind Energy Association. "The establishment of a national renewable electricity standard will lower energy costs for consumers, drive new investment and job growth, and diversify our nation's energy resources."
With Congress controlled by Republicans whose climate denial is fueled by campaign donations from fossil fuel interests such as the Koch brothers, the bill is unlikely to advance in the current session. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is actively opposing President Obama's Clean Power Plan which would be key to achieving 30 by 30, urging states to defy it.
More than half of the states currently have their own renewable energy standards but fossil fuel-funded groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have been pressuring states to repeal them. They have succeeded in states like Ohio and West Virginia, while repeal is under consideration in many others.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Why Renewables Are a Better Investment Than Cheap Oil to Grow the Global Economy
This Public Utility Is Waging an All-Out War on Renewable Energy
Battle Continues in Fight to Save States' Renewable Energy Policies
Heatwaves are not just distinct to the land. A recent study found lakes are susceptible to temperature rise too, causing "lake heatwaves," The Independent reported.
- Climate Change Will Be Sudden and Cataclysmic Unless We Act Now ›
- There's a Heatwave at the Arctic 'Doomsday Vault' - EcoWatch ›
- Marine Heatwaves Destroy Ocean Ecosystems Like Wildfires ... ›
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Aaron W Hunter
A chance discovery of a beautifully preserved fossil in the desert landscape of Morocco has solved one of the great mysteries of biology and paleontology: how starfish evolved their arms.
The Pompeii of palaeontology. Aaron Hunter, Author provided
<h2></h2><p>Although starfish might appear very robust animals, they are typically made up of lots of hard parts attached by ligaments and soft tissue which, upon death, quickly degrade. This means we rely on places like the Fezouata formations to provide snapshots of their evolution.</p><p>The starfish fossil record is patchy, especially at the critical time when many of these animal groups first appeared. Sorting out how each of the various types of ancient starfish relate to each other is like putting a puzzle together when many of the parts are missing.</p><h2>The Oldest Starfish</h2><p><em><a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/216101v1.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cantabrigiaster</a></em> is the most primitive starfish-like animal to be discovered in the fossil record. It was discovered in 2003, but it has taken over 17 years to work out its true significance.</p><p>What makes <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> unique is that it lacks almost all the characteristics we find in brittle stars and starfish.</p><p>Starfish and brittle stars belong to the family Asterozoa. Their ancestors, the Somasteroids were especially fragile - before <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> we only had a handful of specimens. The celebrated Moroccan paleontologist Mohamed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.041" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ben Moula</a> and his local team was instrumental in discovering <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018216302334?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">these amazing fossils</a> near the town of Zagora, in Morocco.</p><h2>The Breakthrough</h2><p>Our breakthrough moment came when I compared the arms of <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> with those of modern sea lilles, filter feeders with long feathery arms that tend to be attached to the sea floor by a stem or stalk.</p><p>The striking similarity between these modern filter feeders and the ancient starfish led our team from the University of Cambridge and Harvard University to create a new analysis. We applied a biological model to the features of all the current early Asterozoa fossils in existence, along with a sample of their closest relatives.</p>Cantabrigiaster is the most primitive starfish-like animal to be discovered in the fossil record. Aaron Hunter, Author provided
<p>Our results demonstrate <em>Cantabrigiaster</em> is the most primitive of all the Asterozoa, and most likely evolved from ancient animals called crinoids that lived 250 million years before dinosaurs. The five arms of starfish are a relic left over from these ancestors. In the case of <em>Cantabrigiaster</em>, and its starfish descendants, it evolved by flipping upside-down so its arms are face down on the sediment to feed.</p><p>Although we sampled a relatively small numbers of those ancestors, one of the unexpected outcomes was it provided an idea of how they could be related to each other. Paleontologists studying echinoderms are often lost in detail as all the different groups are so radically different from each other, so it is hard to tell which evolved first.</p>Trending
President Joe Biden officially took office Wednesday, and immediately set to work reversing some of former President Donald Trump's environmental policies.
- Biden Reaffirms Commitment to Rejoining Paris Agreement ... ›
- Biden Likely Plans to Cancel Keystone XL Pipeline on Day One ... ›
- Joe Biden Appoints Climate Crisis Team - EcoWatch ›
In many schools, the study of climate change is limited to the science. But at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, students in one class also learn how to take climate action.
Listen:
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17278520/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/college-course-teaches-students-how-to-be-climate-leaders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>By Daniel Raichel
Industry would have us believe that pesticides help sustain food production — a necessary chemical trade-off for keeping harmful bugs at bay and ensuring we have enough to eat. But the data often tell a different story—particularly in the case of neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics.
- Bees Face 'a Perfect Storm' — Parasites, Air Pollution and Other ... ›
- European Top Court Upholds French Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides ›
- UK Allows Emergency Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide - EcoWatch ›