Raleigh—The North Carolina legislature has given final approval to Senate Bill 3, the controversial energy package that includes renewable energy and energy efficiency requirements, but could also promote new coal and nuclear generation.
“The bill still provides a
powerful incentive for utilities to pursue dirty power,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment
North Carolina State Director, “but there is a silver lining.”
Senate Bill 3 would ensure
that at least 7.5% of the state’s power will come from renewable energy sources
by 2021. House lawmakers in the Energy
and Energy Efficiency committee, led by Rep. Pricey Harrison, also added a
requirement that utility regulators evaluate efficiency measures and renewable
energy sources before allowing new coal and nuclear plants.
“A renewable energy standard is
a first step towards making North Carolina more energy independent and curbing global warming
pollution,” said Ouzts.
As originally introduced by
long-time clean energy advocate Sen. Charlie Albertson, Senate Bill 3 contained
only requirements for renewable energy and energy savings. But utility interests succeeded in inserting
provisions to ease financing of new coal and nuclear power plants before the
bill cleared the Senate.
In addition to the House
Energy and Energy Efficiency committee, the House Finance committee made
improvements to the bill, including a requirement that regulators consider the new
financing rules when determining the rate of return for the state’s
investor-owned utilities.
During the final debate in
the House, Rep. Charles Thomas offered an amendment to require regulators to
verify that ratepayers would benefit from allowing utilities to recover
financing costs on construction works in progress. The measure failed with 39 favorable
votes. Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield
offered an amendment to encourage clean technologies on factory-scale hog farms
that produce renewable energy from animal waste. That measure failed with 34
favorable votes.
“We are grateful to the House
for improving Senate Bill 3,” said Ouzts.
“And we applaud the dozens of Representatives who voted to make
the bill even better. But we remain
disappointed that this important step for clean energy comes with sweeteners for more
coal and nuclear power.”
The Senate is expected to
agree with the House changes, and then send the bill on to Gov. Easley for his
signature.
