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.