Rep. Les Winningham

NASHVILLE-A bipartisan group of state legislators, including State Rep. Les Winningham, and Gov. Phil Bredesen last week unveiled new legislation “designed to make the Volunteer State a national leader in energy efficiency and clean energy technology,” officials said. 

The elected officials were joined by members of the Governor’s Task Force on Energy Policy in introducing the Tennessee Clean Energy Future Act of 2009, a news release issued by the governor’s office said last week. 

The legislation, co-sponsored by Winningham, three other state representatives and four senators,  is a wide-ranging bill tackling several major recommendations by the governor’s energy task force, created in March 2008, the news release said. 

Last summer and fall, Bredesen traveled the state with the 16-member panel to craft a comprehensive new energy policy for Tennessee. The group’s extensive work can be viewed at www.tn.gov/energy.

“Today’s bill is the result of countless hours of public meetings involving dozens of experts and hundreds of stakeholders from across Tennessee,” Bredesen said. “It promotes energy savings for state government and consumers across Tennessee, it encourages the development of clean energy technology jobs, and it happens to be the right thing to do for energy and the environment.

“It’s a bold, bipartisan step toward ensuring the Volunteer State’s clean energy future,” the governor said.

Winningham, who has represented Clay County since the mid-1980’s, was also a part of the task force which studied the energy policy.