Washington (Platts)--20Jun2007

US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman,
hoping to attract enough support to include a renewable energy portfolio
standard in the Senate's broad energy bill, Wednesday offered a modified
proposal he hopes can win support of southern state senators.

     Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, joined with Senator Mary Landrieu, a
Louisiana Democrat, to offer a so-called renewable and energy efficiency
resources standard.

     The Bingaman-Landrieu amendment would require 15% of electricity sales by
utilities to come from specific renewable resources by 2022. It would also
allow the governors of states to ask the US energy secretary to allow up to
27% of the requirement to come from energy efficiency resources, including
combined heat and power and recycled energy. 

     The amendment sponsors said the provision would translate into an 11%
renewables requirement and a 4% efficiency standard in a state that seeks the
maximum allowance for energy efficiency.

     Bingaman's original amendment would have required utilities to obtain 15%
of their power supply from renewable resources by 2020.
Bingaman opted for the modified amendment after New Mexico Republican Senator
Pete Domenici threatened to conduct a filibuster against the proposal.
Domenici and a number of other senators argued that the requirement would
prove costly for utilities in Southeast states, which are considered to have
fewer renewable energy resources than other states.

     Senate floor debate on the broad energy bill continued Thursday, but it
is unclear when the Bingaman/Landrieu amendment will come to the floor. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he is hoping to complete debate on the
bill by Thursday.

		--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com