In California and Arizona, Governors Emphasize Renewable Energy Goals

In his inaugural address, California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. reiterated a campaign pledge to seek development of 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in the state by 2020.

In Arizona, Gov. Janice Brewer, elected to her first full term in November, said the state will develop a robust solar industry that is “the envy of the world.”

In New Mexico, meanwhile, new Gov. Susana Martinez, after being sworn in Jan. 1, created a small-business task force to identify rules that it concludes would harm business growth and job creation. During the review, all proposed and pending regulations will be frozen.

Ms. Martinez during her campaign opposed the state’s participation in a regional effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions by setting caps and allowing the trading of emissions credits. The state's environmental agency had approved new regulations that were to take effect Jan. 1.

In California, Mr. Brown’s goal of 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity would keep on track the cleaner-energy push begun by the administration of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. The state Energy Commission in recent months has licensed planned solar power plants with a total generating capacity of more than 4,100 megawatts. The United States as a whole ended 2009 with slightly more than 2,000 megawatts of solar electric generating capacity.

In California and Arizona, Governors Emphasize Renewable Energy Goals