June, 22 98
FEDERAL ENERGY BUDGET & TAXES
1.) GAO/EE-RE: The General Accounting Office has released a new report, "DOE: Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Financial Management Issues" (GAO/RCED-98-186R, June 10). It may be ordered by calling GAO's Document Distribution Center at 202-512-6000.
2.) Jeffords-Roth: Rather than risk a floor vote on the Jeffords-Roth amendment, Senators Domenici and Reed agreed on June 18 to a $69.8 million increase in the renewable energy budget. The agreed-upon amendment cuts 1.6 percent from all non-water and non-defense accounts at the Department of Energy and shifts the funds to the renewables budget bringing the account from $252 million to $322 million. Furthermore, as recorded in the Congressional Record, there is a solid commitment from Senator Domenici to stick close to the Senate numbers in Conference. Senator Reed also expressed his strong support for the Jeffords/Roth effort and his commitment to hold in negotiations with the House. However, the amendment did not correct any of the objectionable language in the Senate report. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of the 7-page amendment.
3.) House E&W: The FY'99 Energy & Water Appropriations bill (H.R. 4060) should be on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday or Wednesday (June 23 or 24). There will be an open rule. The June 18 issue of Environmental & Energy Weekly reports that the proposed Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, which is allocated $5 million in the bill, may be the target of an amendment to reduce funding. It's unclear whether Rep. Matt Salmon or others will consider an amendment to increase renewable energy funding. The Subcommittee's report includes 3 pages of language on the bill's renewables provisions and two pages that address the bill's nuclear provisions. The report includes a strong criticism of the potential taxpayer cost of the Million Solar Roofs program. It adds that DOE "has placed a higher priority on providing funds to commercialize technologies that are not yet ready to fully compete in the marketplace; these efforts have come at the expense of a more proper role for government: fostering peer-reviewed research which could lead to cutting-edge discoveries in plant research, chemical and materials sciences, and other areas fundamental to development of these technologies." The Solar Energy Industries Association has prepared a 2-page memo on "issues effecting FY'99 Energy & Water Appropriations" Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of any of these materials.
4.) House Interior: The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee's $13.4 billion bill is $800 million less than President Clinton's request and $700 million less than the FY'98 enacted amount. The bill would cut building research by $4.5 million below FY'98; weatherization and state grants are reduced by $5 million; industry research is reduced by $6 million below FY'98; and transportation research is reduced by $20 million below FY'98. No funding is provided for the new cooperative energy partnership program while the Federal Energy Management Program is increased by $3.4 million above FY'98. Overall, the efficiency budget is $205.7 million below the Administration's FY'99 request. The report language stipulates that "no funds are to be used to implement the Kyoto agreement on global warming/climate change. Among the fossil fuel programs, there are no clean coal rescissions or deferrals while coal research is increased by $6 million over FY'98. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of a7-page summary of the Subcommittee's recommendations. Members of the Sustainable Energy Coalition are now discussing with members of Congress the possibility of a floor amendment to restore $80 - $100 million to the bill for energy efficiency programs.
5.) Production Tax Credit: Among the supporters of the extension of the wind/biomass production tax credit are 13 sponsors of S.1459 in the Senate and 65 sponsors of H.R. 1401 in the House, including 22 members of the 30-member Ways & Means Committee. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy.
ELECTRIC UTILITY RESTRUCTURING
1.) Restructuring Opposition: A coalition of over 50 organizations, led by Public Citizen, is launching a new campaign "We've Got the Power: Ratepayers for Affordable & Green Electricity." The campaign is expected to address problems posed by state utility restructuring proposals including subsidies for unsafe nuclear power plants, higher electricity costs for consumers, loss of reliable and affordable service, increased reliance on older and dirtier fossil fuel plants, and the marginalization of renewable energy sources. Its goal is the passage of federal legislation to prevent a bailout of the electric utility industry and to provide protections for consumers and the environment. The campaign will be formally launched on June 23 with 20 news conferences around the country including one in Washington DC featuring Ralph Nader, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); the latter two are expected to introduce legislation later this year that embraces the goals of the campaign. For further information or to participate in the campaign, contact Jessica Vallette (Public Citizen) at 202-546-4996, ext. 323 (vallette@citizen.org).
2.) Pena/RPS: According to Reuters (June 15), DOE Secretary Federico Pena reported that the Clinton Administration will propose a measure this summer requiring U.S. utilities to generate 5.5% of all electricity come from renewable resources by 2010. The proposal would cover solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal but not hydroelectric projects. Pena conceded that power generated from alternative resources would be more expensive for consumers but said the extra cost would amount to mere pennies.
3.) Restructuring/Judiciary: The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), has formally requested that any utility restructuring bills approved by a congressional committee be referred to it as well. In particular, the committee is interested in any "antitrust issues" that may be affected by utility restructuring.
CLIMATE CHANGE
1.) Anti-Kyoto Attacks: On June 9, the Global Climate Coalition released a report paid for by the American Petroleum Institute and titled "Global Warming: The High Cost of the Kyoto Protocol." It claims that the protocol will result in a loss of 2.4 million jobs by 2010 and reduce GDP that year by about 3%. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued a rebuttal news release noting that there are no technological advances in GCC's policy case, no cost savings from efficiency improvements in their policy case, carbon tax revenue is offset in an inefficient manner, and there is no trading, JI/CDM, or sinks included (i.e., all emissions reductions are within U.S. and from reducing energy use or fuel switching). Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of the 2-page ACEEE release. On June 15, the Pacific Research Institute released a new study "Impact of Potential 'Greenhouse Gas' Emission Limits on the People and Economy of California" authored by Glenn Schleede. It claims that a $0.50/gallon tax increase on motor fuels could mean an added cost to California drivers of $7.7 billion/year; in addition, such a tax could mean a loss of 123,000 job opportunities in the Los Angeles area alone. Let us know if you would like to see a 2-page PRNewswire story on this report.
2.) Knollenberg: There is an unconfirmed report that the House Appropriations HUD/VA Subcommittee has accepted an anti-Kyoto treaty amendment offered by Rep. Joe Knollenberg's (R-MI). The rider, which would block virtually all work by the federal government on climate change issues, was initially rejected on June 17 as an add-on to the Energy & Water appropriations bill by the House Appropriations Committee. However, he offered the amendment again on June 19 to the HUD/VA bill which will not be publicly released until June 23. If accepted as originally written, it stipulates: "None of the funds w members are Reps. Julia Carson (D-IN), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Howard Berman (D-CA), and Elton Gallegly (R-CA). Let us know if you would like us to fax you an updated 10-page list of members with staff contacts, addresses, phone & fax numbers.
3.) Richardson/DOE Secretary: President Clinton has formally announced his selection of U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson as the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. While in Congress, Richardson was a member of the House Renewable Energy Caucus. The Safe Energy Communication Council issued a 1-page news release saying that Bill Richardson's nomination as Energy Secretary is a "positive move." It notes that "Richardson's voting record on sustainable energy issues and the environment [is] progressive and positive; he was strong on terminating wasteful spending on nuclear reactor research and has consistently supported funding for research on renewable energy." SECC adds that Richardson's "support for the nuclear weapons complex is an apparent contradiction." Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy.
4.) Nuclear Safety: The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a new study that finds that the safe operation of the nation's 104 nuclear power plants is threatened because of careless inspectors and frequent worker errors. The most serious finding in the report, which is based on the monitoring of ten plants from November 1996 to January 1998, was that internal safety inspectors missed more than 200 problems that occurred at the plants last year. The report also found that a large number of plant problems were caused by human error (35%) and faulty procedures (44%). For details, contact David Lochbaum (UCS) at 202-332-0900.
June, 15 98
FEDERAL ENERGY BUDGET & TAXES
1.) Senate E&W: The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on an amendment to be introduced by Senators Jim Jeffords (R-VT) and William Roth (R-DE) as soon as Tuesday, June 16. The amendment would add $77 million back to the renewables budget, from the Senate Committee FY'99 levels of $252 million, bringing the budget to $329 million, half way to the Administration's request. It would restore all programs to FY'98 levels and boost programs 10-20% more. The source of the "offsets" for the proposed increase in the renewables budget has not yet been identified. Jeffords-Roth will not be using Hanford nuclear clean-up funds as a source of funding offsets. Some Senate offices (e.g., Sen. Graham) have said that they will vote against the amendment if the offsets are cutting the nuclear subsidy programs, i.e., the Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization (NEPO) and Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) programs. The American Public Power Association (a member groups of the Sustainable Energy Coalition) reports that, in response to growing support for the Jeffords-Roth amendment, it is under pressure, even threats, from the nuclear industry. Apparently the Committee's staff has threatened funding for the Renewable Energy Production Incentive (which benefits municipal utilities) if APPA does not back down from its support for the amendment. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of a 1-page factsheet on the Jeffords-Roth amendment prepared by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
2.) House Energy & Water: The House E&W Appropriations Subcommittee meeting was held behind closed doors on June 10; the Subcommittee does plan to formally release its proposed funding levels for renewable energy, nuclear power, and other programs until June 16. However, Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-LA) issued a 2-page news release which can be found at . It stated, in part:
"The recommendation for the Department of Energy is $16.2 billion, an increase of $305 million over fiscal year 1998, but a reduction of $866.8 million from the President's request. The reduction from the request is largely due to the use of prior year balances in atomic energy defense activities which will be available for use in the new fiscal year, a reduction in the request for privatization funding for environmental cleanup projects, and rejection of the Administration's proposal to significantly increase funding for many energy supply programs. Domestic energy programs are funded at levels consistent with fiscal year 1998.
"The bill includes $351.4 million for solar and renewable programs, an increase of $5.1 million over fiscal year 1998. Despite severe funding constraints, the Committee was able to provide level funding for these programs. Fusion energy is funded at a level of $232 million consistent with last year, and $4 million above the budget request. Nuclear energy programs are funded at $227.8 million, $15.3 million below fiscal year 1998, and $98 million below the President's budget request. [Apparently, NEPO was zeroed out while NERI received $6 million.] The bill does not provide funding for several new energy spending programs for which justifications were inadequate: nuclear energy plant optimization, solar program support, solar technology transfer, climate challenge, and Next Generation Internet."
3.) House Budget: On June 5, the House approved a FY'99 Budget Resolution that would cut environment-related spending nearly $5 billion as part of its broader $100 billion cut over five years. This includes cuts of $2.1 billion in the Natural Resources and Environment "function," $1.5 billion in the Agriculture "function," and cuts to the Energy and Transportation "functions." The House resolution now moves to conference with a Senate version that makes virtually no spending cuts in its adherence to last year's balanced budget deal.
4.) Ethanol Extension: President Clinton signed into law an extension of the ethanol tax incentive through 2007 as part of the six-year highway reauthorization bill at a signing ceremony last week.
ELECTRIC UTILITY RESTRUCTURING
1.) Restructuring/Congress: The June 3 issue of Electric Power Alert reports that Republican members of the House Commerce Energy & Power Subcommittee held a members-only meeting on May 21 to discuss how the committee should proceed on deregulation legislation. There is apparently a growing rift among Members between those supporting the Schaefer bill and those supporting either the Stearns bill or the Paxon-Largent bill. The main problem seems to lie in a resentment felt by many Republican members and their staffs over the unwillingness of Schaefer and his staff to compromise on anything in the bill they drafted.
2.) Restructuring/Hoecker: On June 4, Reuters reported that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Hoecker was "not too optimistic" that the next Congress would pass comprehensive electricity restructuring legislation. "The range of issues is impressive and complex. If you throw Kyoto and things like that into the mix, one can't be too optimistic about the ability of Congress to move." Noting that electricity reliability "is absolutely essential," he added that "passage of legislation in this Congress was never a serious threat. Whether it will be in the next Congress ... is an open question."
3.) Looking for Green Power: The Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana (attn: Mike Mullett) reports that Indiana Power & Light claims that it cannot find any green power anywhere to support its green power tariff even though the tariff allows them to pay and charge "market price" for the power. IPL thus wants to defer implementation of its green power tariff until it can confirm a source of supply, for which IPL claims to be continually and diligently looking. If anyone knows of any green power which might be available to IPL, contact .
4.) Stranded Costs: An op-ed "A Shocking Giveaway to Utilities" by Wenonah Hauter (director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project) was published in the May 28 issue of the Wall Street Journal. In part, it notes that "under the stranded cost laws many states are enacting [as part of utility restructuring], any possible benefits from competition will be stifled and delayed. ... These rules amount to corporate welfare, giving the existing monopolies an advantage over their competitors. ... The utility industry as a whole is demanding as much as $250 billion -- twice the cost of the savings and loan bailout -- in exchange for opening the market to newcomers." Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy.
CLIMATE CHANGE
1.) 1998/Warmest: Preliminary information from the National Climatic Data Center indicates that January, February, March, April, and May 1998 were each the warmest months ever recorded. Global average temperatures were about half a degree higher than the previous record for the same period. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has indicated that major El Nino events have become more frequent and more severe in the past two decades. NOAA Administrator D. James Baker said, "This wetter and warmer winter than we've just experienced gives us a glimpse of what we can expect in a greenhouse-gas globally warmed world." Vice President Gore added that "we know that as a result of global warming, there is more heat in the climate system and it is heat that drives El Nino; so, when El Nino comes, the effects are likely to be compounded by global warming."
2.) HUD/VA: The latest issue of Environment & Energy Weekly newsletter reports: "Another major Administration initiative was almost equally cold shouldered. EPA requested $230 million for climate change programs, reflecting a $116 million increase to implement the climate change technology initiative by working with industries and other groups to find feasible ways of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Not only did the subcommittee grant just $25 million of the increase, it adopted report language providing no funds to support the Kyoto Protocol on climate change."
3.) Oil Subsidies: A new Greenpeace report, "Fueling Global Warming: Federal Subsidies to Oil in the United States" found that the U.S. government provided up to $11.9 billion in subsidies to the U.S. oil industry in 1985 excluding the cost of defending Persian Gulf oil supplies (with the inclusion, the figure rises to as high as $35.2 billion). For details on getting the 180-page report, contact Tom Barnes (c/o Greenpeace) at 202-319-2514 or tom.barnes@wdc.greenpeace.org.
4.) Anti-Kyoto Businesses: A number of businesses are circulating a form letter to key congressional appropriators urging a government-wide appropriations restriction to block federal funding of any efforts to prevent climate change (e.g., increased renewables, efficiency funding) before the Senate ratifies the Kyoto protocol. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy of the 2-page letter.
MISCELLANEOUS
1.) Maine Yankee/No-Sale: Megawatt Daily reports that Maine Yankee received no bids in its first attempt to sell its closed nuclear power plant in Wiscasset, Maine. In the next phase of the hoped-for sale, which will run through the end of July, Maine Yankee will accept bids for component parts. Money earned from the sale of any equipment will help cut the utility's estimated $500 million dismantling cost.
2.) House Caucus: Two new Members have joined the House Renewable Energy Caucus bringing total membership up to 125 (60 R's, 64 D's, 1 I.. The new members are Reps. Merrill Cook (R-UT) and Pat Danner (D-MO). Cook's membership adds a new state (the 40th) to the Caucus' representation.
3.) PV/Utility: The June 8 Boston Globe reports that last week the first all-photovoltaic solar utility company was created in Boston. Sun Power Electric, a division of the non-profit Conservation Services Group, expects to launch its first major installation of solar panels within the next two weeks. The company is betting that the market created by deregulation will increase demand for photovoltaic power, making solar products conducive to mass production and less expensive. Company officials aim to make solar power competitive with fossil fuels within 10 years.
4.) Knollenberg/Nuclear-Renewables: A 1-page article by Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) appeared in the June 8 Roll Call in which Knollenberg argues that "we can protect clean air while generating large amounts of electricity by using nuclear energy ... renewable energy sources have received billions of dollars in federal R&D funding, but today generate just a fraction of the electricity of nuclear energy. ... I attended the Kyoto convention and was dismayed that there was virtually no acknowledgment of nuclear energy's role in avoiding emissions from electricity sources." Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy (warning: print is small & may not fax well).
5.) Coalition Membership List: A 4-page list of the 34 member groups that comprise Sustainable Energy Coalition is available upon request; it includes contact names, addresses, phone & fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Let us know if you would like us to fax you a copy.
