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Senate Panel Reviews Bills for Inclusion in Energy Legislation; APPA Testifies
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Senate Panel Reviews Bills for Inclusion in Energy Legislation; APPA Testifies
On May 19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a legislative hearing on 26 bills introduced for potential inclusion in comprehensive energy legislation. APPA’s President and CEO, Sue Kelly, testified on legislation regarding hydropower, mandatory capacity markets, and other issues. A final hearing will be held on June 9, after which the Committee will move to mark-up a bipartisan bill, with the hope of moving it to the full Senate before the August recess.
Kelly expressed measured support for two bills related to forward capacity markets. Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-MA) S. 1272 would order a GAO study of these markets, and Chair Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) S. 1222 would require RTOs to report to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on their markets – which APPA believes could encourage RTOs that do not currently have a capacity market to think about starting one – and amend their filings to provide increased opportunities for self-supply (which APPA supports). Murkowski thanked Kelly for her support of S. 1222 and asked several questions related to the bill.
Kelly testified in favor of three hydropower bills, including Chair Murkowski’s bill, S. 1236, the "Hydropower Improvement Act," which would streamline regulatory processes for licensing hydropower projects. In particular, it would designate FERC as the lead agency to set a binding schedule and coordinate all needed federal authorizations and require a resource agency’s conditions to pertain to the actual hydropower project. In addition, the bill would designate FERC Administrative Law Judges to hear trial-type hearings and make a number of improvements to the hearing process. In an effort to reduce the need for duplicative, costly studies, S. 1236 would direct FERC to compile and make public a comprehensive collection of studies and data and to use existing studies if practicable, among other things.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME), who has introduced his own bill. S. 1338, to expedite or exempt permitting for small hydro projects under 5 megawatts, said: "Any permitting program that takes seven to 10 years and costs $150 million isn’t a permitting program, it’s an annuity for lawyers and consultants."
In the House, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ (R-WA) introduced the "Hydropower Regulatory Modernization Act" and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton’s (R-MI) also released a narrower discussion draft. These two House efforts mirror the Murkowski bill (S. 1236), and were the subject of a May 13 Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing. APPA submitted written testimony in support of efforts to improve the hydro licensing process.
Seeking inclusion in a different section of the legislation, Sen. King introduced S. 1213, the "Free Market Energy Act," which would set federal parameters governing DG. The bill would ask state regulators to weigh giving distributed generation customers "just and reasonable" rate treatment. The bill also suggests states consider designating a distribution coordinator to manage distributed resources.
Chair Murkowski introduced her own bill on DG, S. 1219, which would require state regulatory bodies and publicly-owned utilities to examine the degree to which DG ensures safe, reliable, efficient interconnection of distributed generation to the grid. The bill would also require state commissions and publicly-owned utilities to examine the effects of net metering and DG on resource planning, resource utilization, the financial health of the utility, and on customers who do not install DG.
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