California Gov. Brown signs bill allowing BART to pursue clean energy

California Gov. Jerry Brown late last week signed into law a bill aimed at enabling San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to increase its use of clean energy.

The new law allows the agency to purchase wholesale electricity directly from renewable energy sources, which in turn means the agency is able to more easily pursue solar, wind and small hydro power, BART officials said in a press release.

Previous state law restricted who BART could purchase specific energy sources from, agency officials said.

"Our trains are 100 percent electric with more than half the power coming from clean, hydroelectric and solar sources, but there is more we can do," said BART President Thomas Blalock. "This legislation will allow us to seek out new sources of clean renewable energy and for suppliers to offer it to us at a good price."

State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) authored the bill.