Bingaman strategy: Court votes first, then approach Reid on renewables standard

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said Tuesday  he has not yet approached Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) about securing floor time for the renewable electricity bill that Bingaman is rolling out Tuesday with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors.

“We are going to try and introduce it and then see how much support we can get, how many co-sponsors and then, if the support is strong enough, then we will approach him,” Bingaman told reporters in the Capitol.

Bingaman, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and others are floating a stand-alone renewable electricity standard, or RES, that is expected to be similar to the renewables provision in a broader energy bill Bingaman’s committee approved last year.

Last year’s plan would require utilities to provide 15 percent of their power from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy by 2021, although about a quarter of the mandate could be met with energy-efficiency measures.

Reid had said before the August Senate recess that an RES lacks 60 votes and didn’t include the measure in a narrow energy bill he unveiled. But in late August, Reid said an RES is in the mix as he seeks to salvage energy legislation in a lame-duck session.

Bingaman said in a statement Monday that he believes the “votes are present” to move an RES and that “I think that we need to get on with figuring out what we can pass and move forward.”

He used somewhat softer language speaking to reporters Tuesday when asked whether there are 60 votes, saying, “I think there is a chance, and we will see.”