Contents

1.  Summary
2.  Clean Energy Victories in Wisconsin, New Jersey and California
3.  UCS Making a Difference in New Hampshire and Washington
4.  UCS Building Grassroots Support in Minnesota and Iowa
5.  Saving Renewable Energy Research Jobs
6.  Protecting Cape Wind, the Country's First Offshore Wind Energy Farm
7.  Restoring Funding for Renewable Energy Research and On-farm Renewable Energy Systems

Summary

With the support of activists throughout the country, UCS was able to help pass new and improved renewable energy standards in several states and ensure that established standards are fully implemented in others. UCS is also helping to save jobs at the National Renewable Energy Lab, fighting to save the country's first offshore wind farm, and restoring federal funding for renewable research and on-farm development.

Clean Energy Victories in Wisconsin, New Jersey and California

After receiving more than 700 letters from UCS activists, the Wisconsin State Assembly unanimously passed a bill containing a much-expanded renewable energy standard (RES), and Governor Doyle signed the bill on March 17, 2006. According to a well-publicized study by UCS Consultant Chris Deisinger and UCS Director of Research Steve Clemmer, the standard will bring 2,000 jobs to Wisconsin and result in a net savings for consumers after 2017. While the previous standard required only 2.2 percent renewable energy by 2010, the new RES requires that by 2015, 10 percent of Wisconsin's electricity come from renewable sources like wind, biomass, or solar. The law will also increase energy efficiency through a bolstered public benefits fund.

In New Jersey, UCS supported a successful RES campaign with the help of more than 600 New Jersey activists who participated in the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' public comment period. The new RES requires that 20 percent of the energy coming into New Jersey be from clean, safe, renewable sources like wind and solar by 2020. The standard, in addition to removing millions of pounds of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, will bring an estimated 5,710 jobs to New Jersey.

UCS activists in California sent more than 6,500 letters in support of a greenhouse gas cap, helping us score a major victory when, in February, the California Public Utilities Commission stated that a cap would be established for the electric utilities . The commission included implementation details to be developed later this year in close collaboration with Governor Schwarzenegger's Climate Action Team. Over the past year, UCS Senior Analyst John Galloway has worked with the investor-owned utilities and the commission to ensure the signing of contracts for over 1200 MW of new renewable facilities, bringing the total contracts signed under the RES to more than 2,300 MW. Keep an eye out for future news and alerts on these important issues.

UCS Making a Difference in New Hampshire and Washington

UCS and UCS activists are working hard to help pass a New Hampshire renewable electricity standard (also referred to as a Renewable Portfolio Standard or RPS). Activists sent more than 250 letters to the Senate Finance Committee in support of the NH RPS, and on April 13, UCS Analyst Jeff Deyette testified to a New Hampshire House committee that rather than cost consumers money, the proposed standard would actually yield a modest cumulative consumer energy savings. "Jeff's testimony today was a home run and may well have clinched the prospects for a NH RPS bill emerging from the house," reported UCS' New Hampshire consultant Jim Rubens. It faces tougher odds in the senate, however.

In Washington, UCS is working with the Yes! on I-937 coalition to let citizens vote on a renewable energy standard. UCS activists are helping collect signatures to get the initiative on the ballot in November. A member of the coalition's steering and policy committee, UCS analyst Jeff Deyette is working on a cost-benefits analysis targeted for release in the summer of 2006.

UCS Building Grassroots Support in Minnesota and Iowa

With the help of more than 1,500 letters from UCS activists, UCS consultants J. Drake Hamilton and Lola Schoenrich are lobbying the senate to pass a new RES that would require that 20 percent of Minnesota's energy come from clean, renewable sources by 2020. Minnesota currently only has an unenforceable goal for utilities to increase their purchase of renewables by one percent a year between 2005 and 2015.

In Iowa, after 145 activists wrote their state senators in support of expanding the number of locally-owned renewable energy systems that are eligible for a critical tax credit, the state senate passed the bill 50-0. UCS consultant Rich Dana is working on this issue as well as to pass a tax exemption for the purchase of solar energy equipment. Look for future updates on these important renewable energy incentives.

Saving Renewable Energy Research Jobs

Marchant Wentworth, the UCS Washington representative for clean energy, helped to forestall layoffs at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO, prior to the president's visit by coordinating meetings of the environmental and renewable industry with staffs of Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ken Salazar (D- CO), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Wayne Allard (R-CO) and Representatives Mark Udall (D-CO) and Bob Beauprez (R-CO).

Protecting Cape Wind, the Country's First Offshore Wind Energy Farm

Cape Wind's 130 turbines, planned for installation on a shoal between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, would generate enough clean, renewable energy to supply three-quarters of Cape Cod's needs, currently met by nuclear and fossil fuels. Over the last five years, Cape Wind has passed the muster of state, regional and federal agencies, who concur that the power from the development is needed and that its environmental advantages are compelling. But Cape Wind could be scuttled by a provision inserted into the Coast Guard conference report, which would give the governor of Massachusetts (who opposes Cape Wind) the power to veto it for no reason, leaving project developers, investors and supporters little or no recourse. In coordination with a broad coalition of labor, energy and environmental groups, Clean Energy Washington Representative Marchant Wentworth is working on Capital Hill to remove the provision. UCS Clean Energy Field Coordinator Ben Larson alerted activists to generate political support to save Cape Wind and in less than a month, UCS activists have already submitted more than 45,000 letters in support of the wind farm.

Restoring Funding for Renewable Energy Research and On-farm Renewable Energy Systems

While the administration's proposed budget increased funding for research on wind and solar, it eliminated funding for geothermal and advanced hydropower. Funding for research on geothermal energy, which has enormous potential, had been $25 million in 2005 and $23 million in 2006, but the Bush administration's budget "zeroes out" this research funding for 2007. Funding for advanced hydroelectric power, which focuses on improving the efficiency of existing turbines, was almost five million dollars in 2005 and $500,000 in 2006, but the proposed budget "zeroes out" this research funding for 2007. UCS activists whose representatives sit on the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, which has authority over funding for energy research, have sent more than 250 letters in support of renewable energy research and on-farm renewable energy systems by alerting.

The administration's proposed budget also reduced funding for a USDA program that helps farmers install renewable energy systems. Nearly 400 wind turbines and methane digesters have been installed on farms and ranches in the last three years as a result of Section 9006, as the program is known, which provides capital funding for on-farm renewable energy systems and improvements in energy efficiency. In the 2002 Farm Bill, Section 9006 was to be funded at $23 million/yr, but the 2006 reconciliation bill cut funding to a mere three million dollars for 2007. To restore the funding, UCS' Wentworth and Larson are coordinating with allied groups in the Midwest. UCS is also working to build support for a bill, HR 4897, that would double the funding of Section 9006 under the 2007 Farm Bill. HR 4897 was introduced March 8, 2006 by Congressman Mark Udall (D, Colorado) and Tom Latham (R, Iowa).