The CSR Minute: Republican Governors Lead in Clean Energy Policy

Republican Governors Lead in Clean Energy Policy

There’s an unexpected fact in today’s topsy turvy politics: Republican governors are taking the lead in clean energy. A post on The Hill website notes that two former governors who are now cabinet members set the pattern: Rick Perry, the new Secretary of Energy, supported market-based, renewable energy technology that made Texas the national leader in wind energy. And South Carolina’s, Nikki Haley, now UN Ambassador, was an advocate of solar energy development and of regulatory reform to create an advanced energy economy.

The party that emphasizes state-level government has now developed a list of current Republican governors who support clean energy. It includes Illinois’s Bruce Rauner who has expanded clean energy production, Nevada’s Brian Sandoval who has formed a bipartisan group of 17 governors in an initiative to revitalize the electrical grid, and the governors of Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Such momentum for clean energy policy at the state level could lead to a national strategy to guide the country’s energy future. I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.