Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will take charge today of how California utilities meet a goal that one-third of their power be generated by renewable energy by 2020.
Schwarzenegger plans to issue an executive order, aides said, that will instruct the California Air Resources Control Board to design regulations for how utilities can meet a 33 percent renewable goal.
Aides said the plan will not include union-supported restrictions on purchasing energy credits from outside California. Two bills the state Legislature passed last weekend, aimed at charting how utilities can meet the goal, contained those restrictions.
Supporters of the bills expressed disappointment with the governor's plan to veto the legislation, which they say has provisions to create jobs.
"We're here today to ask the governor to give a lifeline to California's working families," said Scott Wetch of the Coalition for Green Jobs, who appeared at a Capitol press conference to represent unionized construction workers.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a big solar-energy company, the California Wind Energy Association, Pacific Gas and Electric, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also support the bills.
Supporters say the bills will help create jobs in California by requiring that utilities purchase no more than 25 percent to 30 percent of renewable energy credits from sources outside the state.
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