Amid concern about rising gasoline prices and the security of oil supplies, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order April 25 calling on state agencies to promote biomass energy as a source of both electricity and transportation fuel. Currently, the state produces 2 percent, or 1,000 MW, of its electricity from biomass, Schwarzenegger observed. However, he said that biomass could be instrumental in meeting the state's future electricity needs and essential to achieving the state's 20 percent renewables portfolio standard requirement. Biomass, the governor said, has the potential to power more than 3 million California homes. He ordered the California Public Utilities Commission "to initiate a new proceeding or build upon an existing proceeding to encourage sustainable use of biomass."