US update
Published by MAC on 2007-04-13
US update
13th April 2007
Oregon has legislated to ensure that electric utilities use "renewable" energy for at least a quarter of the state's needs. Paul Wolfowitz has also declared, at a World Bank meeting in Washington DC, that "clean and renewable energy projects" may become the World Bank's key focus in a few years.
However, the Oregon formula isn't scheduled for full implementation for almost another twenty years. And we mightl ask how much faith to place in Wolfowitz's latest statement, since the Bank continues refusing to accept the recommendations of its Extractive Industries Review (now four years old) which urged abandoning financing of coal and phasing out investment in oil and gas.
More emphatic is the decision taken by the six New England states and New York to cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 90-95% - starting now.