California’s New Energy Standard — Law or Executive Fiat?

With the global warming threat, clean energy is a key to long-term wildlife protection. California lawmakers have passed a bold new standard calling for 33% of the state’s energy to be produced through alternative sources such as solar and wind.  But the governor says it has too many regulatory hurdles and plans a veto.  He goes on so say he feels the 33% goal can be met via an executive order.

The Associated Press reports:

“The Democratic bills that passed the state Legislature just before the end of the legislative session Friday would have set up the most aggressive renewable energy standards in the nation. But they also sought to limit the amount of energy from sources such as wind, solar and geothermal that could come from out-of-state. Schwarzenegger and some energy producers said the legislation would set up too many regulatory hurdles.

“The poorly drafted, overly complex bills passed by the Legislature are protectionist schemes that will kill the solar industry in California and drive prices up like the failed energy deregulation of the late 1990s,” Schwarzenegger’s communications director, Matt David, said in a statement Saturday. The governor’s office didn’t immediately explain how Schwarzenegger would implement the goals of the legislation through the executive order. Supporters worry that it would not have the same strength of law as the bills would have.

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