Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) are continuing their quest to try to block funds for the Department of Energy's National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) program. Hinchey and Wolf offered the amendment to the FY 2008 Energy and Water Development (E&WD) Appropriations bill when that measure was debated by the full House Appropriations Committee earlier this month. The amendment failed narrowly.
The two congressmen have now set their sights on the floor. APPA is aggressively working to defeat the Hinchey-Wolf amendment, which will be voted on later this evening (6/20).
The NIETC program was authorized in Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and was intended to help remove barriers to construction of needed transmission projects in areas that are severely congested. All sectors of the electric utility industry supported Section 1221, believing that the corridor designation process and federal "backstop" siting authority were needed to ensure reliability and improve the wholesale electric market.
Hinchey and Wolf represent districts affected by DOE's proposed designation of a Mid-Atlantic corridor, which was announced in April 2007, and are trying to stop the program, fearing that it will result in a transmission siting decision made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, instead of by their state regulators.
Agreement on Earmarks Reached
The E&WD bill had been held up for days, while the House Leadership worked out an agreement on "earmarks" - provisions to designate funding for specific entities or projects that are generally added to funding bills at the last minute, behind closed doors. The agreement changes House rules to prohibit earmarks from being included in a final appropriation bill if they were not included in either the House or Senate version of the bills. Opposition to earmarks that are "air dropped" in conference committee were an election year issue and the House Democratic leadership vowed to operate in a more transparent way than the previous Republican leadership did on funding bills.
The House leadership reached an agreement Thursday (6/14) after being tied up for three days by Republican floor protests over the treatment of earmarks. Under the agreement, the Energy-Water spending bill (HR 2641) will be the last bill considered without its earmarks.