Congressional Schedule
The Senate and House are in recess for the Thanksgiving break and will return Dec. 4 and 5 respectively. A continuing resolution (CR), funding the government at FY 06 levels until FY 07 bills are passed, expires Dec. 8. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has informed incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that GOP leaders plan to pass a CR through mid-February, pushing the unfinished FY 07 appropriations bills into the next Congress, when Democrats will be in charge.
New House and Senate Leadership Elected
During the brief November lame-duck session, Congressional Democrats and Republicans elected new leadership to head their respective caucuses for the 110th Congress. New to the leadership team in the Senate is Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who is a strong supporter of consumer-owned utilities. This could be beneficial to NEPPA members when leadership decides what bills to advance next session. In addition, incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are also strong advocates of consumer interest, mirroring many of the Northeast Congressional members' viewpoints. Below is a complete list of the new leadership teams in the House and Senate.
- Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
- Majority Leader - Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
- Democratic Caucus Chairman - Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)
- Majority Whip - James Clyburn (D-SC)
- House Minority Leader - John Boehner (R-OH)
- Minority Whip - Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Republican Conference Chair - Adam Putnam (R-FL)
- Senate Majority Leader - Harry Reid (D-NV)
- Majority Whip - Richard Durbin (D-IL)
- Democratic Conference Vice-Chair - Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
- Democratic Conference Secretary - Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Senate Minority Leader - Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Minority Whip - Trent Lott (R-MO)
- Republican Conference Chairman - Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
NEPPA Members to Brief Congressional Delegation on Electricity Markets in NE
On December 7th, APPA will hold a congressional staff briefing on "The Electricity Market in the ISO New England Region," as part of its series on regional elelctricity markets. The panelists will include Sharon Staz from Kennebunk Light & Power District, Bill Gallagher on behalf of the Vermont Public Power Supply System (VPPSS), Glenn Steiger from the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) and Brian Forshaw for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC). APPA's Sue Kelly will also give a brief overview of the restructured electricity markets across the country, while individual Panelists will explain the difficult issues affecting New England as it moves to forward capacity energy markets (FCM).
The New England briefing is a fourth in a series of Congressional briefings, being organized under the auspices of APPA's "Electric Market Reform Initiative" (EMRI) that is seeking to highlight the problems facing RTO markets across the country. Previous sessions addressed RTO accountability and other concerns of consumer-owned utilities in the CAISO, PJM and MISO regions. The final APPA briefing, covering the Southeastern electricity markets, will be held later the same day.
In addition, ISO-NE has schedule to congressional briefing on Wednesday, December 6th with the New England congressional delegation to discuss the winter energy outlook and other energy issues.
Massachusetts' Meehan to Lead Democrats on Ethics Reforms
Incoming-Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA) as the key point person on ethics reform in the House of Representatives. This is noteworthy in that Meehan is considered to be close to Pelosi and is seen as part of her "inner-circle." On ethics reform, Meehan said he will work with his colleagues to put forth the "most significant ethics and lobbying reform that Congress has ever voted on." House Democratic leaders have indicated they have heard the voters and will be attentive to issues of corruption, which they believe were a major factor in the outcome of the November 7 elections.
Instead of putting forth a single comprehensive ethics reform bill, Democrats plan to put together an ethics "package" that would be brought to the House floor piece-by-piece, allowing Members to openly debate and vote on each issue. This approach will ensure that each component of the package -- including banning gifts, meals and travel from lobbyists as well as imposing new spending controls on the budget deficit -- is debated and voted on its own merit. It will also ensure that the bills receive maximum media and public attention. After a series of votes, it is expected the bills will be reassembled into one large package and adopted by the House.
These changes could have an impact on NEPPA's bi-annual Congressional staff tour, where the Association brings Members and staff to the region to get a "hands-on" look at public power systems in the region and discusses energy and environmental issues affecting NEPPA systems.
Lieberman to Head EPW Subcommittee with Eye to Climate Change
Incoming Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced she will restructure the panel to sharpen its focus on global warming next year. She designated herself to lead a new Subcommittee on Public Sector Solutions to Global Warming, Oversight, Children's Health Protection and Nuclear Safety, signaling that climate change legislation will be a top priority. She also named Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) to chair a panel with jurisdiction over industry and consumer solutions to climate change and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) to lead a subcommittee focusing on the Clean Air Act and nuclear plant security. Lieberman and Carper have both previously sponsored bills to require mandatory reductions of C02 emissions.
However, outgoing EPW Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) has promised to block any effort to pass global warming legislation. Though Inhofe acknowledged that Boxer, with a one-seat majority on the panel, may be able to push a climate-change bill through the committee, he predicted that supporters of such legislation would not have the 60 votes needed to break a Senate filibuster.
Clean Renewable Bonds Announced by IRS; NEPPA Members in the Mix
On November 20th, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issued a press release regarding the Clean Renewable Energy Bond ("CREB") program and informed applicants that the IRS was in the process of sending letters to applicants about CREB allocations. A number of NEPPA members have requested CREB allocation, including the Princeton Municipal Light Department and the Hull Municipal Light Department, among others.
Out of 709 applicants from over 40 different states, the IRS indicated it received 24 proposed project applications from the state of Massachusetts. No other New England state was specifically mentioned in the press release. Because of confidentially laws, the IRS, did not release the names of the successful and unsuccessful applicants or the individual amounts of project allocations.
APPA is collecting data from members that applied and were successful (or unsuccessful) in their bid for CREB allocation. This information will be used to help encourage Congress to enact legislation to expand and extend the program beyond the 2007 date currently authorized in the Tax Code.
FERC Acts Again on Long-Term Transmission Rights
In an Order on Rehearing of its proposed rule on Long-Term Transmission Rights, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on November 16 essentially reaffirmed its proposed rule and did not weaken it, as proposed by several commenters. From a public power perspective, this was a "win" for load-serving entities.
Although APPA, and other public power entities, had urged FERC to mandate a preference for load-serving entities (LSEs) that have or planned long-term power supply commitments, the Commission declined to go that far. Instead, it said that it expects RTOs to provide sufficient long-term transmission rights to cover LSEs' baseload requirements and, if there is a scarcity of such rights, to "allow" the RTO or other transmission organization to propose an allocation plan that would give preference to LSEs with long-term power supply commitments.
House Republican Moderates Push Limited Offshore Drilling Bill in Lame Duck
Under the leadership of House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) 18 moderate GOP members (including Reps. Charles Bass (R-NH) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT)), sent a letter endorsing the Senate version of the offshore drilling bill, during the lame duck session. In the letter, Boehlert cited the Nov. 7 election results as a call for "pragmatic, targeted approaches to solving problems rather than ideological sparring."
The Senate bill (S 3711) limits offshore drilling to 8.3 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, while the House approach (H.R. 4761) could open the entire U.S. coastline to oil drilling. The two chambers have been in a stand-off for months, with Senate leaders arguing that they cannot expand the bill further due to a filibuster threat from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). House leaders so far have held out for a compromise that would open up additional territory on the East Coast.
Lieberman Energy Staffer Moves to Feinstein's office
Kit Batten has been hired to handle energy and environmental policy issues for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Batten comes to the Feinstein office from Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-CT) office, where she served for the past year as a legislative fellow. Batten, who has a PhD in ecology from UC Davis, will be replacing Rachel Miller, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. In meetings on behalf of NEPPA, Batten has been sympathetic to concerns raised about restructured energy markets and its lack of focus on the end-consumers. Her move to the Feinstein office will hopefully heighten that office's awareness on RTO accountability and other consumer concerns.
Barton Staffer Moves to FERC to Reinforce Relationships with Congress
FERC Chairman Joe Kelliher appointed Andy Black, formerly Deputy Staff Director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to be Director of the Commission's Office of External Affairs. The Office of External Affairs is the Commission's primary point of contact with the public, Congress, international, federal, state and local government offices, public interest groups and the news media. Black come from the Hill with extensive experience in policy, strategy and legislative operations for all activities of the Energy Committee, chaired by Congressman Joe Barton of Texas. Kelliher has tapped Black to help "further strengthen [FERCs] relationship with Congress and the states."