The Arizona Corporation Commission voted 3 to 2 to advance a clean energy rules package that would require regulated utilities to get power from 100% carbon-free sources by 2070, on Wednesday.
Arizona utility regulators advance new energy mandates plan
BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press
FacebookTwitterEmail
PHOENIX (AP) A 3-2 vote by the Arizona Corporation Commission moves the state toward boosting the renewable energy requirement for state-regulated utilities but under a slower timetable than a previous proposal that was rejected by the panel.
The commission s vote Wednesday restarts a rulemaking process to require that most of the state s electrical providers get 100% of their power from carbon-free sources to limit carbon emissions and address climate change.
But the new proposal is based on a bipartisan compromise that would set a 2070 deadline 20 years later than the 2050 target in the previous proposal rejected by the commission on May 5.
The last commission meeting was a troubling example of failed leadership. Márquez Peterson now has a choice. She can double down on her mistake at the expense
Inside Clean Energy: Arizona’s Energy Plan Unravels
An ambitious, bipartisan clean energy proposal stalls right before the finish line.
May 13, 2021
A starry night over the Mitten Buttes in Monument Valley, Arizona. Credit: Xavi Talleda/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Related
Share this article
Six months ago, Arizona showed the country how Democrats and Republicans could work together to come up with a 100 percent carbon-free electricity plan.
Last week, the state showed how such a proposal, even when it seems like a done deal, can fall apart.
The turnabout was heartbreaking for Bob Burns, a Republican who was a leading promoter of the idea that clean energy should not be a partisan issue. He had shepherded the energy plan to its apparent passage last fall in his final months as chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, capping a decades-long career in elected office. But he wasn’t that surprised.