Utah and the West could see the kind of investment that California's Silicon Valley enjoyed during its technology revolution if Congress establishes a national renewable energy standard, bill supporters said Tuesday.
    Sponsored by Rep. Thomas Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., H.R. 969 would require most utilities nationwide to produce 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
    Democratic leaders could bring the bill to the House floor next week, perhaps as an amendment to another piece of legislation.
    That's why "it's crunch time in Congress," Lawson LeGate, the Sierra Club's senior southwest regional representative, said Tuesday during a meeting with The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board.
    LeGate cautioned, however, that his organization didn't want to see watered-down legislation that fails to activate a meaningful renewable energy standard, which supporters say would curb global warming, protect the environment, lower consumer energy bills and spur economic development.
    A 20 percent renewable standard could mean $45 billion in capital investment and 13,000 new, permanent jobs in Utah due to the state's tremendous potential for solar, wind and geothermal development, said John O'Donnell, president of Ausra, Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based solar technology developer.
    While LeGate said the renewable standard bill is proving a tougher slog than it should be, 2nd District Rep. Jim Matheson said competing bills on renewable standards have made the debate more complex.
    A renewable standard bill already has failed in the Senate. Other House measures could focus on carbon cap and trade schemes that would provide market-based incentives to develop renewables, Matheson said.
    Another complication: Some Eastern states, such as Virginia, have few renewable resources to develop. Requiring them to meet a 20 percent renewable standard could be unrealistic, said Matheson, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
    Matheson's constituents support efforts to address global warming, according to a poll by the Natural Resources Defense Council released Monday. The survey showed 2nd District voters identify climate change as the nation's most pressing environmental problem and that immediate action is needed to address it.
    More than 80 percent of the survey respondents said there should be incentives for energy conservation, more energy-efficient appliances, tougher vehicle emission standards and expansion of alternative energy use.
    Already, 23 states have enacted their own renewable energy standards, also known as renewable energy portfolios. Last month, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. announced he would pursue a renewable portfolio standard for Utah. Advocates for a federal standard say it could help streamline plans for new transmission capacity and boost research and development of non-fossil fuel energy.
    A 2006 study commissioned by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado found that investing in commercial-scale solar power plants in California showed greater returns in economic activity and employment than similar investment in natural gas equipment.
    During the annual Western Governors Association meeting in June, O'Donnell and other industry representatives said capital investment would be hard to come by unless all levels of government pitched in as full partners. Without policy change and financial incentives, renewable technologies can't be developed to commercial scale.
    The governors, however, indicated they'd rather focus on clean-coal technology than new renewable energy research.