Currently, House and Senate leaders are proceeding with an informal, "non-conference" strategy, because of limited time and strategic disagreements in the Republican Party. Closed-door discussions between key House and Senate Members and staff are ongoing, with leadership and those Members meeting to strategize and discuss controversial issues such as a renewable fuels mandate, renewable portfolio standard, vehicle fuel economy standards, tax incentives, among other things.
On the tax side, Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committee staff are working to "tee-up" a package of tax provisions for consideration by Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IO) House Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA). While a key piece of the puzzle, the overall size of an energy tax title, is still unresolved, many believe Baucus and Rangel are prepared to construct a bill similar to the size of the House package ($15 billion), but are awaiting approval from their respective leaders that they will support such an effort.
The White House, on the other hand, is signaling it will not support anything larger then a $7 billion energy tax title, because it opposes the rollback of oil and gas tax incentives included in the House bill and the Finance Committee approved tax title, (which did not make it into the final Senate bill). Of interest to NEPPA members is the expansion and reform of the Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) provisions, included in the House bill and the Finance Committee approved tax title.
On the issue of a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), originally most observers believed the exemption for federal utilities, municipal and cooperative systems would not hold. However, more recently Southeastern Senate Republicans and House leadership have pushed to keep the exemption - based on a belief that the exemption is needed to get enough votes to pass in the House and Senate. Investor-owned utilities, however, oppose an RPS and are advocating for public power's inclusion if an RPS makes it into the final bill. There are those that believe that if Democratic leaders do not compromise on this issue, there will not be enough votes for passage in the Senate.