Compromise sought on green-power mandate

By Jordan Schrader
The News Tribune

Power companies this month are facing mandates voters imposed in 2006 to either produce green energy or buy credits from those who do.
Utilities complain that Initiative 937 requires them to buy power they don’t need – especially with the economic downturn depressing demand – and say they are passing costs to their customers. Environmentalists credit the law for Washington’s burgeoning green-power industry, which they say has invested $7.5 billion here.
Now the chairmen of the House and Senate energy committees, Rep. Dave Upthegrove and Sen. Kevin Ranker, have crafted what they hope will be a step toward compromise.
But at their proposal’s first public hearings Monday and Tuesday, it was clear the potential changes satisfied almost no one. Read more