Morgan Meguire News

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 ...

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 ...

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 electricity markets.  The panelists will include Sharon Staz from Kennebunk Light & Power District, Bill Gallagher on behalf of the Vermont Public Power Supply System ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...