A more likely alternative in this Congress is a federal clean energy standard. The existing environmental regulatory scheme directed toward clean energy is a hodgepodge and is implemented through differing state regulations and federal rules that do  not adequately consider the impact of previous or upcoming regulations, the economic costs and benefits to communities, or the time required for compliance. A comprehensive federal legislative approach could achieve significant energy savings, foster domestic energy supplies and provide more rational environmental regulation. Even so, this legislation will be difficult to craft and get through the current Congress.

During his 2011 State of the Union speech, President Obama proposed a federal standard that sets an 80 percent clean energy goal by 2035. Our ability to achieve this goal will hinge on details such as what counts as “clean energy,” whether natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and coal with CCS count fully or only partially, and the interim targets we between now and 2035 that we would have to achieve. Also, it is presumed that energy efficiency would count toward this goal as it has in other clean energy and renewable portfolio standard bills. In the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis, the role of nuclear power in meeting such a standard is uncertain, which is unfortunate.

About 20 percent of the electricity we sell today comes from clean energy sources (e.g. nuclear, gas, hydro and renewables) and our integrated resource plan projects that our clean energy will increase to about 32 percent by 2020. We are concerned about the inequities that would occur in the pursuit of this goal. For example, states in the Pacific Northwest are already producing more than 90 percent of their electricity from clean sources, thanks to significant hydro resources in that region while several coal-based states have less than 10 percent to 20 percent clean energy today. If, for example, an interim target in 2020 was set at 60 percent for all states, it would lead to huge windfalls of clean energy credits for states and utilities with large hydro or nuclear capacity today, and huge deficits for states such as Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana. That would mean higher electricity rates for customers in coal-centric states. One way to partially remedy this situation would be to set limits on a state-by-state basis, starting at current clean energy levels and then gradually ramping up to the long-term federal target over time. Further, counting all clean energy sources, including energy efficiency, without any limits will make these targets less costly to achieve.