Senate passes Takko’s bill boosting renewable resources

Plan would help economy and environment, lawmaker emphasizes

March 7, 2008         

OLYMPIA – The state Senate yesterday (March 6, 2008) endorsed a Southwest Washington lawmaker’s plan to spur development of electric-generation facilities and tap renewable resources such as wind and solar power.          

State Rep. Dean Takko’s measure (House Bill 2639) is aimed at clearing the hurdles currently perplexing development of electric-generation facilities.            

“This bill is intended to make it easier to build and develop energy-production facilities that are both economical and beneficial to the environment.”          

Takko’s legislation passed the House earlier this year, 92-2, and it passed the Senate, 46-2. The bill now comes back to the House for concurrence with relatively minor Senate amendments.          

“The changes I want this bill to make in current state law are needed so we can set up the cooperatives needed to finance and build these energy projects,” said Takko, D-Longview.

Public Utility Districts could participate in the projects both with other governments and with private enterprises, according to terms of Takko’s measure.

Although greater use of renewable, environmentally friendly resources is an important objective in the bill, he said that “the provision of cheaper power for the public is every bit as important.”

The Energy Independence Act of 2007 was written as a result of a citizen-initiative approved by the voters in 2006. Terms of the act direct that large utilities must, by the year 2020, secure at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources such as solar and wind power. Other renewable resources include water, landfill gas, wave/ocean/tidal power, biodiesel fuel, and biomass energy.

Takko is a member of the House Local Government Committee that first supported his legislative plan earlier this year.

Also backing the bill in committee testimony were representatives from the Washington Public Utility Districts Association, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 77), and the Cowlitz Public Utility District