Renewable energy mandate bill revived

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Senators are making another push at requiring utilities to use more renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal.

The Senate energy committee chairman, New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman, and other senators are now hoping to pass a bill that would mandate utilities get 15 percent of their energy from such sources by 2021. They will try to get the legislation passed in a lame duck session after the election.

The move comes after an Associated Press story that efforts for such a mandate, known as a renewable electricity standard, had stalled in the Senate.

Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, did not include the mandate in his energy bill despite a big lobbying push by environmental groups, renewable energy providers, more than half the nation's governors and even some utilities.

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