By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
It has been a whipsaw year for the rules, which were pushed out 20 years from an earlier plan.
The bipartisan compromise at the Arizona Corporation Commission came just three weeks after the rules were killed following an initial approval last fall that was widely celebrated by environmental advocates.
Even though she supported the rules in the fall, Chairwoman Lea Márquez Peterson backed a change earlier this month to set simple “goals” for emissions reductions rather than “requirements” as supported by a host of advocacy groups.
The two Democrats on the five-member commission wouldn’t go along with weakening the rules, which sunk them after years of effort to boost Arizona’s use of renewable energy.
But Democrat Anna Tovar and Republican Jim O’Connor worked out a compromise to maintain the new energy rules as requirements while pushing back the date when utilities must get 100% carbon-free energy to Dec. 31, 2070, from the initial 2050 date proposed.
