Mercury News Editorial: Legislature should reject utilities’ demands, pass clean-energy law
Share this pageAfter a disastrous session, the California Legislature has a chance to show that it’s still capable of strong leadership — at least on climate change.
A popular and ambitious proposal requiring utilities to get 33 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020 has been approved in committees and is awaiting a vote in the Assembly and Senate. One of the primary debates is over where that energy will come from. Lawmakers need to make sure that ratepayers’ money goes into job creation and development of clean energy here in California, not just to import power from other states.
Most utility companies, including PG&E, are withholding support of the bills in part because they want more flexibility to make out of state purchases. The current plan calls for limiting these to one-fifth of the required amount, a level that gives the utilities some flexibility while conferring most of the law’s benefits on Californians. Lawmakers should hold firm on this percentage. [...]
Full editorial on the Mercury News website