Congressional Schedule '08
Congress
adjourned on August 1 for its customary month-long August recess. Both the House and Senate will return to Washington, DC, on September 8. The year-end target adjournment date is
September 26, to allow Members to return to their districts to campaign prior
to the November 4 general election. It
will be a busy three weeks, with an ambitious legislative agenda, including
stalled issues such as FY09 appropriations, an energy bill and extenders
legislation, including energy tax incentives.
Clean Energy Industries Step up Political Game in Denver &
Minnesota
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
arrived in Denver last week and worked to increase their profile with Democrats,
renting out a historic downtown brewery.
The association was able to draw political heavyweights such as former
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) to its party. In contrast to the industry's minimal
presence at the 2004 convention, AWEA has supplanted the auto industry as a new
convention heavyweight, taking the opportunity to announce the opening of three
wind turbine manufacturing plants in Colorado. With much at stake in the continued debate
over energy and climate legislation, the wind and solar industries are hoping
the coming election, which favors Democrats, could finally result in a renewal
of the expiring renewable tax incentives.
Like the wind industry, clean coal had virtually
no presence in 2004. This election year,
the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is spending $1.7 million on a
multi-pronged advertising campaign in Denver and
the Twin Cities, where the Republican convention is currently being held. That
campaign includes advertising in the airports and, putting "coal facts" in the
hands of fans in both Denver and Minneapolis-St Paul.
The solar industry has also radically increased
its coverage of the conventions. In
2004, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) sent two people to the
conventions and did not have a formal presence.
This year, in both Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul, the association is a high-level donor
while also hosting large parties.
AEP Will Back
Expanded FERC Transmission Siting Powers
On August 25, Energy Washington reported that
American Electric Power (AEP) will likely back a proposal by FERC Chairman
Joseph Kelliher to expand federal powers to site new transmission projects. The story is the latest indication that
Kelliher's comments, made at a July hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, continue to resonate among electric stakeholders,
especially with transmission planning on the rise. AEP does not predict this dramatic change in
federal policy to come soon. In the
meantime, the utility would like to see more designations of National Interest
Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC), where FERC's current backstop
authority can be applied. It also
supports a strong DOE role in coordinating activities of multiple federal
agencies for projects that cross federal lands, per the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
AEP and others
complain that federal agencies are too slow in approving siting studies
required for transmission lines to cross federal lands. An AEP source said that it takes three years
to complete construction of a new transmission project, while it takes 16 years
to site it. Because public awareness is
relatively low on transmission concerns, Congress has been slow to consider a
new siting policy. FERC's process for
natural gas pipelines should be the model for transmission siting, echoing the
remarks of chairman Kelliher at a July 31 Senate hearing on transmission.