A number of energy bills passed by the California legislature at the eleventh hour late last month sit in limbo with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger remaining silent on whether he will sign the various bills into law.

Environmental groups supporting the clean and green bills held a press conference in the state capital last Tuesday to press their case for the governor signing four bills that have not received the exposure of the state’s major global warming bill (AB 32), the only energy measure so far that Schwarzenegger has committed to sign.

Bills pushing energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean coal — AB 2021, SB 1250, SB 107, and SB 1368 — were singled out by representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Union of Concerned Scientists and Environmental Defense. The three groups have lobbied hard for a slate of bills that deal with curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, something Schwarzenegger has strongly supported through an executive order he issued last year.

Noting that the sponsor of the comprehensive energy efficiency bill (AB 2021), Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, feels the governor eventually will sign his bill by a Sept. 30 deadline for bills passed this year, an aide to the assemblyman said the supporters wanted to give more attention to other pieces of legislation that may have been overshadowed by all of the political and local media attention given to AB 32, which establishes mandatory reporting and limits on the amounts of GHG emissions from power plants and other major sources of carbon-based pollution.

“Some of these other bills could begin paying dividends even before AB 32,” said the aide to Levine, who thinks all of the pending bills eventually could be signed by Schwarzenegger, except perhaps SB 1368, which requires all new or extended generation and power contracts for the state to come from sources that are at least as clean as a combined-cycle natural gas-fired generation facility (essentially banning traditional coal-fired generation). “Business is still pretty much opposed to SB 1368.”

Among its final acts before adjournment Aug. 31, the California legislature passed AB 2021 establishing extensive energy efficiency programming by utilities and another proposal to formally set a statewide 20% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2010, but left out public-sector utilities.

AB 2021 was touted by Levine and other supporters as having the potential to reduce statewide forecasted electricity demand by 10% over the next 10 years, effectively offsetting the need to build 11 major power plants. Levine argued that energy efficiency is “the only energy policy that lowers costs, creates reliability and is environmentally friendly,” and in his opinion, both the private- and the public-sector utilities should be responsible for doing their fair share to promote it.

AB 2021 would:

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