Mercury News: Push for renewable energy lauded, but divisions over details remain
Share this pageHoping to add “green” jobs to a beleaguered state economy, California lawmakers are poised to take up new rules dramatically increasing the amount of renewable power used in the state over the next 10 years.
But while that broad, if ambitious, target — 33 percent by the end of 2020 — has attracted widespread support from utilities, regulators and lawmakers, deep divisions remain over how best to achieve it and how much it might cost. [...]
One estimate, by the California Public Utilities Commission, said all that new infrastructure could cost as much as $115 billion. The PUC also cautions that developing new land for solar and wind arrays could encounter costly environmental lawsuits and other challenges.
Nevertheless, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, the lawmaker leading the push, said he remained “optimistic” about the chances for a proposal that would keep California on the nation’s vanguard.
Read the full story on the Mercury News website