Jul 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Albert McKeon The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.

Environmental advocates believe the energy bill taking shape in Congress is this country's big chance to get it right.

And three advocates on the local level say they will press New Hampshire's two senators to ensure that the state gets it right.

"Right now, our country is poised to take off in clean energy," said Jan Pendlebury, a senior field associate of the Pew Environment Group, in an editorial board interview Tuesday with The Telegraph.

But Senate support is needed to finally enact federal standards that would reduce greenhouse gases and improve the environment, Pendlebury and two other environmental advocates said. Thus, they said they will ask U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Judd Gregg to push for legislation that will meet those aims.

Pendlebury was joined by Yvonne Nanasi, a consultant with the Environmental Defense Fund, and Mark Weissflog, president of a Nashua company that sells renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels.

They spoke not just about the environmental benefits of a national push toward "clean energy" but also the financial benefits.

About 1.7 million jobs would be created in the U.S. green sector by the legislation, they said. New Hampshire, they added, has already shown growth in this area: a 0.44-percent increase in jobs from 1998 to 2007, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.

They also cited a Congressional Budget Office estimate that the legislation would cost each household $175 in 2020, but added that the benefits of reducing the nation's dependence on oil and coal would be greater.

A bill that recently passed the House requires utilities to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent and enacts a cap-and-trade program that limits companies' carbon emissions and allows them to sell the unproduced carbon in the form of credits.

The Senate is now in the beginning stages of crafting its energy legislation. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Shaheen is a member, this month forwarded a bill that, among other initiatives, requires utilities to produce up to 15 percent of their electricity through renewable energy sources.

Shaheen supports a cap-and-trade program, extending tax credits for renewable energy and investing in energy research and development. Her office said any energy legislation she would support must provide mechanisms that would help the state's small businesses.

Pendlebury and Nanasi said they were concerned Gregg might not fully support the emerging energy initiative. Gregg has said he would have voted against the climate bill Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate, had put together.

Gregg's office didn't immediately provide a comment on the matter.

But as Pendlebury and Nanasi noted, Gregg has long pushed to preserve New Hampshire's environment by securing federal funding to preserve land and support college environmental programs.

"We need his support because he's such a leader," Pendlebury said.

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