Via Green Car Congress, the Senate rejected the Cantwell amendment [PDF] to the energy bill that would have reduced the amount of foreign oil imported in 2025 by 40% from the EIA’s baseline projections [PDF].
By my calculations, even if we reduced the amount of oil we import in 2025 by 40% off the baseline, we would still import just as much oil as we did in 2003, since the EIA projects that number to grow by 2.4% annually (darn that compound interest!)
One amendment did get the paper clip of approval, though: the Bingaman amendment [PDF] that mandates electric utilities generate a certain percentage of their power from renewables, with that percentage increasing to 10% by 2020.
This should make achieving Action 1 of the Urban Environmental Accords a snap for most cities.
Don’t worry, all you free marketeers out there: A utility that is just terribly bad at producing renewable energy can purchase credits if it’s more efficient for them to do so.
The Bingaman amendment also does not include nuclear in its definition of renewable. Just solar, wind, geothermal, “ocean energy” (which I assume is tidal), and biomass.
