24 May 2007Kget.com
California energy commissioners have imposed new rules forbidding utilities from signing new contracts with coal-fired power plants that don't find a way to pump their emissions underground. California has largely phased out coal-fired generators within its borders, but the state still buys about 20 percent of its electricity from plants in other states. Many of those contracts will expire over the next two decades. Energy commission spokeswoman Claudia Chandler says the state is holding itself accountable with the new rules. Environmental groups cheered the new restrictions. Bernadette del Chiaro of the group Environment California says the state "is telling Wall Street and Main Street that it is time to switch sides and invest in clean energy exclusively."
