6.1. ERMUSR 02-15-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Marshall Municipal Utilities G.M. and MMUA Government Relations Committee Chalr Brad Roos, left, thanks Rep. Bill Hilty for his comments at the MMUA Legislative Rally. Interact with Other Groups and Lobbyists Much of what MMUA staff discovers about what is going on at the capital comes from other lobbyists. This ex- change of information often comes though organizations such as the Minnesota Government Relations Council, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Energy Commit- tee and the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC). Utility lobbyists met regularly in 2010 to share information. PUC Hearings A great deal of gas and electric utility information comes from hearings before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). For example, information about investor owned utility plans to increase rates comes from information filed with the PUC, which will be important to the governing bodies of public power cities as they consider potential rate increases. Information found in utility integrated resources plans filed with the PUC is the source of much information that could affect the interest of municipal gas and electric utilities. MMUA regularly attended MPUC meetings in 2010. Meetings of Other National and State Groups Emerging trends that may well affect the operations of municipal utilities often are encountered for the first time at the annual meetings of various organizations. In 2010 MMUA staff attended the Mid-America Regula- tory Conference and the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The emphasie at both was on the "smart grid:' Staff attended the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) summer meeting. Staff also attended the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association Annual Meeting to keep abreast of issues affecting the Western Area Power Administration and its wholesale customers. (Western supplies a significant amount of the wholesale power to 47 of Minnesota's 125 municipal electric utilities.) Informational Seminars MMUA attended many seminars and informational meetings, including the Minnesota Environmental Ini- tiative (MEI) meeting, `tiVater Policy in Minnesota: Plan- ning the Next Chapter" and Windustry's "2010 Wind Energy Conference." The MEI meeting focused on the huge and growing requirements concerning the clean- up of water and wastewater, which could significantly increase the cost of these operations for municipal water and wastewater utilities. The Windustry meeting con- firmed our belief that, were it not for the election, wind advocates would have pursued a very aggressive effort to increase wind mandates for electric utilities. Review Reports and Studies Reports and studies, done by either the government or private concerns, are often a prelude to legislative or ad- ministrative action that could have a substantial impact on municipal utilities. The LMC study Cities, Services and Funding: Broader Thinking, Better Solutions, is such a report. This study, released in June, projects that cities of every size, in every region, will be (in LMC's words) "broke" by 2015 if no policy changes are made. The report also projects that by the year 2025 cities overall would see a deficit of 35 percent of city revenue. This impending financial crisis for cities is likely to have an impact on municipal utilities as well as all other city operations. Upon review of this report, MMUA staff be- gan aresearch effort to help its members deal with these possible challenges. Another bellwether report, APPA's Implications of Greater Reliance on Natural Gas for Electricity Gen- eration, takes a detailed look at natural gas demand, supply, transmission, and storage infrastructure and the operational considerations that electric utilities will need to take into account if carbon emission rules require a switch from coal to natural gas. Member Communications/Member Relations MMUA informs its members of government activity and seeks member input about how these actions might af- 4 - 2010 Year in Review MMUA's Greg Oxley, at left, discusses climate Issues with Brad Crabtree of the Great Plains Institute and state Rep. Michael Beard (R-Shakopee), at right.