February 3, 2015 | By Doug Peeples

West Virginia's six-year-old Alternative Renewable Energy Portfolio Act that required utilities to meet targets for including alternative fuels in their energy portfolios is done. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the House and Senate approved legislation that repeals it this week.

The act, approved in 2009, required investor-owned utilities with 30,000 customers or more to include 25 percent of renewable and alternative their retail electric sales by 2025. The West Virginia House and Senate approved earlier bills to eliminate the law that implemented the act last month.

While other states have dropped or suspended renewable energy and/or energy-efficiency standards, the situation for West Virginia seems unusual. The state is high on the list of coal producers and depends on it for the great majority of its power.

However, as the West Virginia MetroNews said, the state's coal association helped draft the legislation that created the renewable and alternative energy mandate. Also, a week prior to the vote that eliminated the standard, a FirstEnergy official said his company could comply with it with no negative repercussions to its operations.

But as Governor Tomblin said in a statement after signing the repeal legislation, "In 2009, when the Legislature approved West Virginia's Alternative Renewable Energy portfolio, the Act had overwhelming support from business and industry. We understand economic drivers and factors change over time, and the Act as it was passed in 2009 is no longer beneficial for our state."

Also prior to the vote, coal association head Bill Raney said times have changed, referring to regulatory and legal developments since the act was initially approved.

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