In a “Path to Clean Energy” event hosted by the National Hydropower Association in partnership with NASEO on July 23, 2020, Senator Lisa Murkowski and State Energy Officials from North Carolina, Connecticut, and Virginia shared insights on policy and regulatory pathways to a decarbonized economy.
"Energy is becoming cleaner, and clean energy is becoming cheaper, and I just don’t see that changing,” noted Senator Murkowski as she discussed highlights from her tenure as Chair of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Emerging technologies and clean energy resources, combined with existing low-carbon resources such as hydropower, pumped storage, nuclear energy, and others, Murkowski noted, need to all be part of the U.S. transition to a clean energy economy.
A states’ panel discussion moderated by Sushma Masemore, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and State Energy Director, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, drilled down on the clean energy and decarbonization pathways under development in Virginia through the Virginia Clean Economy Act and in Connecticut through the its Renewable Portfolio Standard, integrated resource planning, and comprehensive energy plan. Angela Navarro, Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Commonwealth of Virginia and Victoria Hackett, Deputy Commissioner of Energy, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection discussed their states’ legislative, policy, and regulatory efforts to modernize the electricity grid in equitable, technology-agnostic, and ambitious ways.