Governors Want to Speed Up Clean Energy Technology Use
In the first Northeast Mid-Atlantic Governors Clean Energy Forum, representatives from 11 states and the District of Columbia started to identify opportunities for collaboration in accelerating the use of clean energy technology.
N.Y. Gov. David A. Paterson said: "Confronting our growing energy needs efficiently is one of the most critical problems we will face as a state and a nation in the coming decades. Today, New York is proud to host 10 other states as we take a first step together toward achievable, renewable, and clean energy solutions."
The 11 states, which form the Northeast New England Clean Energy Corridor, will seek to develop a significant renewable energy manufacturing sector, establish a trained clean-tech job workforce, and lead the nation in renewable energy development through progressive, forward-looking energy policies. The members are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.
Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick, co-host of the forum, said: "In the past year, Massachusetts has taken major steps toward creating a clean energy future, by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy through comprehensive energy reform legislation, passing an advanced biofuels bill, and launching an oceans planning process that will identify sites for wind, wave, and tidal power in our state waters. But the Northeast and New England states have the opportunity to create a huge regional market for clean energy innovations. We owe it to ourselves, and our future, to take on that challenge, and reap the rewards."
The forum members expected to address:
• How the federal government can best support state efforts to advance clean energy, focusing on the potential implications of federal climate change legislation, especially key elements in legislation to accelerate clean energy deployment and innovation;
• State opportunities and joint actions to advance ocean-related energy development;
• Regional collaborative opportunities to expand and ensure the sustainable use of bioenergy as a source of renewable fuels, and to consider and implement where advisable, advancement of lower carbon fuel standards; and
• State opportunities and joint actions to increase coordination among the states' renewables policies and programs, build more robust region-wide markets, and facilitate a larger regional clean energy industry.
Governor Paterson stressed the importance of the review that follows the forum, which will determine the immediate next steps, including a framework for sustaining and supporting on-going collaboration and action among the states on priority issues identified.