NEPPA members make plans for legislative meetings

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The first session of the 112th Congress is now underway, and the NEPPA Legislative Committee has begun to plan for its first major lobbying activities in what promises to be a challenging legislative year.

The annual American Public Power Association Legislative Rally is scheduled for late February, and many NEPPA members will be attending the Rally and taking time to visit their Congressional Members to discuss energy policy and other issues affecting public power utilities. In January, committee members held a conference call and reviewed a list of potential issues to be discussed with New England legislators during their Congressional meetings. The major topics identified were as follows:

• Federal Incentives for Renewable Energy Investments - Public power systems are seeking reforms to the Clean Renewable Energy Bond program (CREBs) which will provide comparable incentives for non-profit electric utilities to invest in new sources of renewable energy. Investor-owned utilities already enjoy federal tax credits for these investments.
  
  
• Rising Transmission Costs in New England – New England Senators Shaheen (D-NH) and Sanders (I-VT) are pushing for Senate oversight hearings to investigate the implementation of the 2005 Energy Policy Act by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Specifically, the hearings would closely examine the approval of high rates of return for new transmission investments in the region, which are driving transmission costs ever higher for New England electric customers.
  
  
• Regulation of Carbon Dioxide Emissions – The Environmental Protection Agency has begun the regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under authority granted to it by the Clean Air Act. EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under this legislation is being contested by several states, and litigation is expected to continue during 2011. NEPPA members continue to support new federal legislation to address the issue of carbon emissions from power plants, but recognize that such legislation is highly unlikely during the 112th Congress. They will explain their concerns about EPA regulation during their Congressional meetings.
  
  
• Protection of Municipal Bonding Authority – New federal deficit reduction initiatives may be proposed to eliminate the exemption of federal taxes on municipal bond interest. Public power utilities (and other municipal government organizations) will work to preserve this vital feature of state and local financing of capital investments if such legislation is proposed.