SACRAMENTO — Meline Engineering Corp., along with members of the California Geothermal Heat Pump Lobby Coalition, sent a request to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office on Sept. 17 for Assembly Bill 2339 to be signed into law after being passed in the Senate with a 36-0 vote, and then returned to the Assembly where it passed with 79-0 vote.

AB 2339, introduced by assembly members Das Williams and V. Manuel Perez, states: “This bill would require the Energy Commission, by July 1, 2013, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, State Air Resources Board, and other stakeholders, to evaluate and recommend policies and implementation strategies to overcome barriers to the widespread deployment and use of geothermal heat pump and geothermal ground loop technologies.”

Supporters of AB 2339 and geothermal heat pump technology believe that passing this bill would help overcome barriers relative to the deployment of geothermal heat pump technology, state standards for the installation of a geothermal borehole, and the tiered rate structure that penalizes all-electric mechanical systems including geothermal heat pumps. For more information, visit www.geoexchange.org.