Washington Senate approves measure on energy targets
WASHINGTON STATE - Washington's largest utilities may get some breathing room in meeting new green-energy targets under a bill that passed the Senate.
The bill would ease Initiative 937, which requires large utilities to supply 15 percent of its electricity through renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power by 2020.
The Senate bill, which passed on a 27-21, now heads to the House, where it faces likely opposition.
The bill allows utilities to count conservation efforts and some existing energy sources toward the targets. But it changes some of the goals: upping the percentage of renewable energy to 16 percent by 2020, and adding a new 2014 target of 4 percent and a 2025 target of 20 percent.
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Quebec's electricity ambitions reopen old wounds in Newfoundland and Labrador
OTTAWA - As Quebec prepares to ramp up electricity production to meet its ambitious economic goals, the government is trying to extend a power deal that has caused decades of resentment in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Around 15 per cent of Quebec's electricity comes from the Churchill Falls dam in Labrador, through a deal set to expire in 2041 that is widely seen as unfair. Quebec Premier François Legault not only wants to extend the agreement, he wants another dam on the Churchill River to help make his province what he has called a "world leader for the green economy."
But renewing that…