Republicans Drop Renewable Requirement from Energy Bill

A measure that would require large utilities to produce 10 percent of
their electricity from renewable sources by 2019 has been stripped
out of a big energy bill by Republican congressional negotiators.
Yesterday, 53 senators, including eight Republicans, called for the
provision to be reinstated, but to no avail.  In another development
that's making environmentalists unhappy, Republican leaders in the
House are pushing for the energy bill to exempt makers of the fuel
additive MTBE from lawsuits related to water contamination.  MTBE,
which is added to gasoline to make it burn cleaner, has contaminated
groundwater across the country; cleaning up those messes could cost
$29 billion, according to one estimate.  "What this does is let the
worst of the water polluters off the hook and shift the remediation
to the taxpayers," said Steven Wolens, a lawyer representing cities
that are suing over MTBE pollution.

straight to the source:  Washington Post, Dan Morgan and Peter Behr,
30 Sep 2003
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1557>

straight to the source:  USA Today, Laura Parker, 30 Sep 2003
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1558>

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