Enviros chalked up a small victory yesterday when the U.S. Senate threw its support behind a measure requiring that investor-owned utilities produce at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Senate did so by rejecting, 58 to 40, an attempt by Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) to remove the requirement from the comprehensive energy bill before the chamber. Some enviros weren’t satisfied with yesterday’s win. The Sierra Club’s Debbie Boger said the country would experience only modest gains in the production of renewable energy because of exemptions and other provisions in the measure. Currently, about 2 percent of the country’s electricity is produced from renewables; last week, the Senate voted down a grander proposal that would have boosted that figure to 20 percent by 2020. The House has not approved a renewables measure.
