(((They say that the American Midwest is the arbiter of American reality; if it plays in the heartland and the Corn Belt, then it's for real.)))
(((In the days of $100-bbl oil, these American wind-sheiks are so eager for green revenue that they'll cordially ignore
Washington entirely and even write MANITOBA into the bill.
Dang.)))
http://www.awea.org/windenergyweekly/WEW1266.html#Article1
"Midwestern Governors’ Pact: 20% Renewables by 2020, 30% by 2030
"A group of Midwestern governors signed a historic accord this week committing the region to work together over the next couple of decades on reducing global warming-causing emissions, a pact that includes a 30% renewables goal by 2030.
"Meeting at the Midwestern Governor's Association (MGA) Energy Summit held this week in Milwaukee, Wis., the governors of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and the Canadian province of Manitoba all signed the accord, with the governors of Indiana, Ohio, and South Dakota signing on as observers to the process.
“This is a momentous day in Milwaukee,” said Governor Jim Doyle (D) of Wisconsin, who serves as the current chairman of MGA and who, along with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R), co-chaired the the summit.
"Acknowledging the indisputable link between carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and global warming, the agreement represents a bipartisan convergence of the need to move forward on a regional basis to take action on the issue rather than wait for federal action from Washington, D.C. In addition, the agreement serves as a message to Congress that action needs to be taken on renewable energy and climate policy, said Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D). “If nothing else, we're going to get the attention of those in Washington, and we need our colleagues from across the nation, the other governors, to join us,” he said.
(((No you are NOT going to get the attention of those in Washington, as they're too busy wasting trillions on an oil war, but at least you'll get some energy revenue that would otherwise have gone straight to
Iran.)))
"The plan addresses a broad range of actions on energy efficiency and other technologies to combat CO 2 emissions from the states in the region. Several elements of the plan focus on renewable energy, and the governors speaking at the event highlighted wind power in particular as a technology that is scalable, easily deployable, and ready to play a major role in the region.
"The agreement calls for the Midwest to generate 20% of its electricity by the year 2020 and 30% by 2030. To achieve those ambitious goals, the agreement calls for specific issues to be tackled through various actions, including
promoting passage of a multi-year federal production tax credit (PTC) extension (up to eight years) for renewable energy, effective once the current two-year extension expires on December 31, 2008; ((("make the feds pay to line our state pockets")))
expanding collaborative regional transmission planning and siting to enable future development of renewable electricity generation; (((the "bison roaming under high-power lines initiative")))
pursuing a multi-state transmission initiative to facilitate construction and delivery to market of a large amount of new renewable electricity generation, together with power from other lower-carbon generation facilities; (((the "wire us up to attract blacked-out Californians" initiative)))
developing and implementing comprehensive siting principles and policies for wind farms to encourage orderly development of the renewable resource; (((the "Auntie Em retire under a windmill and clip Kansas coupons initiative")))
applying the findings of wind integration studies, such as the 2006 Minnesota Wind Integration Study (such studies show that higher percentages of wind power can be incorporated reliably into the electric power system given the Midwest’s tremendous wind resource); (((the "reward the green energy wonks initiative"))) and
developing economic incentives and workforce development policies to attract renewable energy component manufacturers and service providers to the region.
(((the "Dubai in Nebraska Initiative")))
The accord can be accessed at
http://www.midwesterngovernors.org/energysummit.htm
(((I'm no Peak Oil Peakist, but twenty percent locally generated energy can become one hundred percent of the energy available when the rest of it suddenly disappears – for whatever reason, Enron, Putin, giant wildfires, windstorms, Iranian nukes, collapsing currencies, nowadays you can name 'em.)))
