Arizona’s solar future has been under attack from the state’s Republican majority in the sunniest state in the union with several attempts to repeal the state requirement that utilities generate more of their power from renewable sources.
Yet yesterday, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R) quietly dropped a bill to slow the sunshine state’s 15% Renewable Energy Standard – that had 51 co-sponsors.
It was not the first attempt by Republican lawmakers in the state to kill the Renewable Energy Standard (RES). The very conservative Goldwater Institute is behind a Republican bill – HB 2381 – that forbids setting any renewable energy requirements – after the group lost a lawsuit attempting to overturn the RES itself.
And Arizona’s new Republican Governor recently unplugged a regional cap and trade plan that the state originally pioneered under it’s very progressive former governor, Janet Napolitano.
But this Republican attempt to kill clean energy in Arizona was thwarted. By a Chinese solar company.
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