On January 31, NEPPA's Pat Hyland and Morgan Meguire's Lori Pickford and Tom Porter attended the APPA Electric Market Reform Initiative (EMRI) "Grassroots Summit" in Washington, DC. APPA organized the event with public relations firm Manning, Selvage and Lee (MS&L), which has been retained by APPA to manage the EMRI grassroots/media campaign.
The EMRI grassroots campaign aims to demonstrate in targeted states (PA, OH, NJ, MA, IL, MI and NY) that the unfettered wholesale power market is driving costs to unreasonable levels, causing an economic crisis, and creating disincentives to adding capacity and investing in renewable energy sources. In order to seize the debate from the opposition and define the competition, MS&L will train EMRI representatives in the aforementioned states and coordinate an integrated advocacy program involving media, lobbying and grassroots efforts. Pat Hyland will be looking to NEPPA members to help advance this message and broaden support in Massachusetts, as that is a target state. Other NEPPA members will be able to utilize various documents, (e.g. draft letters, Op-Ed pieces and studies), from the APPA EMRI "Tool Kit" to communicate within their states as well. Tactics will include: media outreach, speaking opportunities, legislative briefings, and resolutions of support.
During the Summit, APPA rolled-out three draft objectives of the campaign to push FERC and Congress to implement changes. Those include:
- A market structure that is fair and reasonable, better reflecting the costs incurred in generating electricity;
- Improved and more timely transparency and accountability; and
- A consumer-focused system that assures we have the power supplies we need to meet our future needs, while addressing the environmental challenges we face.
In addition, APPA is working to develop a draft legislative proposal to address these market concerns. Joe Nipper said that the legislation may be in draft form for circulation at the upcoming February 2008 legislative rally. Further, he said that APPA will likely look to comments submitted in response to FERC's June 2007 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) regarding wholesale competition in regions with organized electric markets.