California Requires Cleaner Electricity
In California, the state legislature passed and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a landmark law (SB 1368 - Perata) that requires new power plants and most new contracts for electricity in California to meet a minimum global warming pollution performance standard. This standard will eventually reduce the amount of electricity from dirty sources that is generated in or imported into the state for California customers. With California leading the way, laws such as this one could help discourage the building of dirty coal-fired power plants and encourage the greater use of more climate-friendly sources of electricity generation. Another new law actively supported by UCS (SB 107 – Simitian) will speed up implementation of the 20 percent renewable electricity standard for California's largest utilities, as well as require all utilities to take into account carbon emissions when developing their long term plans.
UCS activists and staff played an important role in moving each of these legislative initiatives forward. Staff and activists met with and wrote letters to key legislators and worked with the sponsors of the legislation to get these bills out of the legislature and to the governor's desk. We are now working with our allies to ensure that the laws are properly implemented.
