Former U.S. Senator and Stanford Law School alumnus Jeff Bingaman will join the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance as a distinguished fellow to develop policies to assist states and local communities in promoting increased use of clean energy. Currently, 29 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted policies to promote increased generation of electricity from renewable energy sources in the form of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). Seven other states have adopted voluntary goals for generation of electricity from renewable sources. Bingaman’s efforts will focus on actions that could be taken to extend and update those policies. His fellowship is made possible by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Bingaman, who spent 30 years in the Senate, was the lead champion of the Clean Energy Standards Act of 2012, which would have required greater use of low-carbon energy sources. During his tenure, he served as Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and on the Senate Finance Committee, as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
During his appointment as a distinguished fellow from April 2013 to April 2014, Senator Bingaman will assess the status of current RPS programs and try to determine what policies might be adopted to update and improve those programs.
“Senator Bingaman will bring unparalleled policy and finance experience to the work of the center at a moment when energy is on the national and international agenda like never before,” said Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
At the center, Bingaman will collaborate with the Environmental Law Clinic within the Mills Legal Clinic, which provides law students with hands-on experience in policy work on environmental and energy issues and in client representation. In addition, the former Senator will provide research opportunities to other law students, business school students, and also collaborate with energy scholars throughout campus, including at Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy.
“We are honored to welcome Senator Bingaman back to Stanford Law School,” said Dean Elizabeth Magill. “The whole university community will benefit from his enormous expertise and his wisdom.”
“I look forward to helping advance the Steyer-Taylor Center’s mission to find cost-effective solutions to advance clean energy,” said Bingaman. “I’m excited to work with Stanford faculty and students to develop approaches to policy and finance that make sense to the investment community, Congress, and state legislatures.”
More on Jeff Bingaman
Jeff Bingaman served in the U.S. Senate 1982-2013 and was chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural resources Committee from 2001-2002, and again from 2007 until the end of his term in the 112th Congress. In the 109th Congress, Bingaman played a major role in the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the first comprehensive energy bill to become law in 13 years. He was the lead sponsor of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which required a historic increase in vehicle fuel economy, boosted homegrown biofuels, and mandated the most sweeping energy efficiency legislation ever to be put into law. Bingaman served on the Senate Finance Committee and chaired the Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure. He was also a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a senior member of the Joint Economic Committee. Before being elected to the Senate, Bingaman was elected New Mexico attorney general. The former New Mexico Senator has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and law degree from Stanford (JD ’68).
About the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance
The Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance is an interdisciplinary initiative of Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business to study and advance the development and deployment of clean-energy technologies through innovative policies and financial mechanisms. Dan Reicher, formerly of Google, the clean-energy investment ranks, and the U.S. Department of Energy, is the center’s executive director.
For more information, please visit the Stanford Law School website.
Reprinted from the Standford Law School News, April 1, 2013
