Missouri RPS and Proposition C

Clean Edge reports today that Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, "recently" signed legislation to create a statewide RPS:

This legislation furthers my commitment to Missouri's Green Power Initiative by increasing energy production in our state while practicing responsible environmental stewardship by increasing the use of renewable energy.

Oddly, it appears that the Governor signed this bill back in June 2007; it seems that with so much green in the news it's hard to stay current. What is recent, however, is that Missourians passed Proposition C, the Green Power Initiative to demand a state RPS. Colorado and Washington also have a state RPS through citizen initiatives.

The legislation, Senate Bill 54 [PDF] set targets of 4% by 2012, 8% by 2015 and 11% by 2020 towards which "electric companies shall make good-faith efforts." The targets were voluntary and applied only to investor-owned (rather than municpal) utilities.

Proposition C makes the targets mandatory, but still only applicable to investor-owned utilities. The targets are 2% by 2011, 5% by 2014, 10% by 2018 and 15% by 2021, representing a relaxation in the early years comapred to SB54, but a more stringent requirement in later years, suggesting the difficulty of achieving the target in a state with fewer easily harnessed renewable resources.

Columbia, Missouri has had its own RPS. It isn't clear how the local and state standards will mesh, a problem similar to that of how a state RPS would fit with the proposed national one.