Environmental Richardson

The campaign of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is keen to let the world know that since he does not see the federal government doing enough to stop global warming, he is taking care of business on the state side.

Richardson has just signed two bills as part of his energy agenda, designed to make New Mexico one of the top two states for renewable energy requirements.  The first law requires New Mexico utilities to produce 15% of their energy from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, or biomass, by 2015 and 20% by 2020.  The second law creates a Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to develop clean energy resources and market them to other states.

“In the absence of federal leadership, I feel a real sense of urgency to take action at the state level to fight global warming and strengthen our energy security,” said Richardson.  “Ramping up our use of renewable energy and reducing carbon-based emissions is the first step.  These strategies also help to protect the environment, create high-tech, high-wage jobs and grow our economy.”

He might not be getting great traction right now, but a number of people I've spoken to consider Richardson to be a sleeper for the Democratic presidential nod, poised to surge when voters grow tired of the current front-runners.