Publication Name

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There's been a sighting this spring of that rarest of birds in Washington: a national energy bill. The bill by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has fluttered around a bit, will probably appear at a Senate committee hearing and then is expected to go the way of all good energy bills: into extinction.

Which is too bad. At the very least, the bill deserves better than to go quietly into that good night. It deserves a fuller national discussion and eventual passage in some form.

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Pushing the nation forward on cleaner energy is a critical issue and has received relatively short shrift from this and previous administrations. The Pew Environment Group argues that nations with clear renewable energy goals and policies attract the most finance and investment and reap the greatest benefits of clean energy innovation and manufacturing. It also argues that state renewable energy standards have been an effective tool and that states are generally ahead of meeting their renewable energy goals.