Jeff Bingaman: “The reason we believe it is important to include in this legislation a renewable portfolio standard is that we believe…”

“The reason we believe it is important to include in this legislation a renewable portfolio standard is that we believe it is important that the Nation have a diverse group of sources--a diverse supply for its energy needs. We are headed in the future to a situation where that diversity is not present to the extent it should be. In the year 2000 we are providing about 69 percent of our total energy needs from two sources; that is, from coal and natural gas. A lot of new generation is under construction around the country. We have a lot of new generation that is expected and planned for, and 95 percent of that new electric generation that is currently planned is planned to be gas fired. It is going to be using more natural gas. We have a problem with that in that today we are not producing as much natural gas as we are consuming. The disparity between what we are producing and what we are consuming is going to grow. It is continuing to grow. We are saying let us hedge our bets as a nation. Let us try to encourage utilities to develop some renewable energy sources.”