Rebuffed by the state's high court, the Goldwater Institute is trying another venue in its effort to void a requirement that utilities generate 15 percent of their power from renewable sources. Legal papers filed Wednesday in the Court of Appeals by the organization which advocates and litigates on behalf of limited government contend that the Arizona Corporation Commission exceeded its legal authority when it approved the rules. Attorney Clint Bolick wants the judges to void the mandate.

The state's highest court refused Tuesday to overturn a requirement on utilities to generate at least 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025. Without comment, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear arguments by the Goldwater Institute that the Arizona Corporation Commission exceeded its constitutional authority in imposing the mandate. The lawsuit challenged not only the requirement but the legality of the surcharge that utilities are passing along to their customers.

The organization filed a petition late Thursday, arguing that the Arizona Corporation Commission overstepped its authority by requiring APS to charge customers a monthly tariff to support renewable energy. The ACC passed a requirement in 2006 requiring public utilities to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2025, and earlier this year approved an increased tariff on APS customers to help the utility provide incentives for that power. Household APS customers can be charged a maximum $1.32 a month with the tariff. Small businesses have a tariff capped at $48.84, and industrial customers pay no more than $146.53 a month. APS will collect $34 million from the tariffs this year, and $95.7 million in 2012, utility officials said.

WASHINGTON - The House rejected a resolution Wednesday that would block government plans to spur construction of major new power lines in many states regardless of local opposition. The issue has been contentious in parts of the East Coast and in the Southwest, where two high priority transmission corridors for power lines were proposed. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., warned colleagues that unwanted power lines could come to their district.

A new federal proposal to help electricity flow more freely could help the energy-choked East Coast. But it could also infuriate landowners, who have traditionally gotten their way in fights against utilities in Delaware. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman last week named Delaware as part of his proposed eastern National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. It would run from New York to Virginia, and west to Ohio. A second corridor would run through California, Arizona and Nevada.

After all the years of lip service about the potential for alternative-energy production in Arizona, especially solar, it's now down to brass tacks. Arizona Corporation Commission members Bill Mundell, Barry Wong, Kris Mayes and Jeff Hatch-Miller voted Tuesday for a measure, and Mike Gleason against, to require that 15 percent of the state's total energy production be from renewable-energy sources by 2025. A significant amount of that 15 percent - about one-third - by 2011 will come from so-called distributed energy, which is electricity produced by residential or non-utility-owned firms. In other words, commissioners opened the door for creative technologies in the fields of solar, wind, biomass and possibly geothermal to show they can produce substantial quantities of energy.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- A proposal made by the Arizona Corporation Commission that will require 15 percent of electricity generated to come from renewable sources by 2025 brings Arizona to the forefront of states with aggressive renewable portfolio standards.