Bingaman launches uphill battle with ‘clean’ power proposal

Yesterday, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) introduced legislation to create a clean energy standard (CES). The bill would require large power companies to supply increasing amounts of electricity from low-carbon sources like wind, solar, nuclear and natural gas beginning in 2015. A Hamilton Project discussion paper by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joe Aldy provided guidance on the issue during the public comment period. Aldy proposed a National Clean Energy Standard that that would lower carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 60 percent relative to 2005 levels over twenty years, streamline the fragmented regulatory system that is currently in place, generate fiscal benefits, and help fund energy innovation. Read more on Bingaman’s CES here, and learn more about Aldy’s proposal here.