Jeff Bingaman: “I strongly urge Senators to oppose this Murkowski amendment. It does, in my strong opinion, gut the underlying provision…”

“I strongly urge Senators to oppose this Murkowski amendment. It does, in my strong opinion, gut the underlying provision which we have been debating now for the last several days. The renewable portfolio standard that we have in the amendment I have sent to the desk requires certain things from utility companies over the next 18 years, between now and the year 2020. What the Murkowski amendment says is that any utility located in any State that has something else in the way of a renewable portfolio program, no matter how weak it is, is exempt from the Federal requirement. It also says that if you are in a State that does not have anything, the State can adopt anything, no matter how weak. And then utilities in that State are also exempt. So it is very clear that his amendment does eliminate any meaningful mandate on utilities anywhere in the country. I strongly urge Senators to oppose the Murkowski amendment. It would gut our renewable portfolio provision. For that reason, I think it should be defeated.”