Renewable energy mandate bill revived
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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California Utility Cuts Power to Massive Areas in Northern, Central California
LOS ANGELES - California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has cut off power supply to hundreds of thousands of residents in Northern and Central California as a precaution to possible breakout of wildfires.
PG&E confirmed that about 513,000 customers in many counties in Northern California, including Napa, Sierra, Sonoma and Yuba, were affected in the first phase of Public Safety Power Shutoff, a preemptive measure it took to prevent wildfires believed likely to be triggered by strong, dry winds.
The utility said the decision to shut off power was "based on forecasts of dry, hot and windy weather including potential…
