ERMUSR MISC MEMO 01-15-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Adams, Bryan rom: michael nolan [mjnolan4827@hotmail.coml Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 11:22 AM To: Greg T. Oxley; David W. Niles; acrowser@rea-alp.com; dvoss@ci.anoka.mn.us; jerrym@austinutilities.com; Bill Black; theoldsalt29@msn.com; Joseph.steffel@cityofbuffalomn.org; cpunt@lakesnet.net; dboyce@ci.east-grand-forks.mn.us; Adams, Bryan; jimk@hpuc.com; Hutchinson -Mike Kum; Jack Kegel; Marshall-Brad Roos; dmc@mcgrannshea.com; Mike Nitchals; bschwandt@gomoorhead.com; bjagusch@cityofmora.com; dbirgen@mrenergy.com; billy@mrenergy.com; MRES--Joe Sullivan; tomh@mrenergy.com; dalene@mncable.net; NMPA-Darryl Tveitbakk; Owatonna - Steve Shurts; Ikoshire@rpu.org; Shakopee-LouVanHout (E-mail); Iw.johnston@smmpa.org; Steve Downer; Susan Coe; Iheitke@ci.willmar.mn.us Subject: At last, Congress goes home They're gone -finally. The first session of the 110"Congress has come to a close, sort o£ The House is gone sine die but technically the Senate didn't adjourn; they remain in pro forma session, same thing they did during the Thanksgiving break, for one reason: staying in session prohibits the White House from making recess appointments to top administration jobs, something they've done in the past. Unable to make a final deal on appointments, Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to keep the place running, barely. By the way, most appointments were successfully completed, including the re-naming of two FERC commissioners (Chairman Joe Kelliher and Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff). For the most part the final week went according to plan: Congress passed a slimmed down version of the energy bill, approved acatch-all spending package, and the Senate passed its version of the farm bill, which now heads to conference with the House. ;ome thought the energy bill would never see a "successful" conclusion despite the much-ballyhooed deal on CAFE standards for autos, which meant a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards for the first time since 1975. In fact, the CAFE issue drove the bill, despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's insistence on passing legislation with a controversial renewable energy portfolio standard and a large, even more controversial tax title. For public power, the House RPS language remained unchanged from an earlier provision passed August 4, exempting munis and coops from the mandatory 15 percent renewable standard. But this would never fly in the Senate, and everyone knew it (Senate Republicans, particularly from the southeast -read Southern Company -protested loudly). The tax title, however, included new and improved language on CREBs, the Clean Renewable Energy Bond program first approved under EPAct in 2005. But here, too, the tax provisions, mostly for reasons related to tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry, seemed doomed from the start. It all happened quickly. Technically called the Senate amendments to the House amendments to the Senate amendments to the House bill (I'm not kidding), the fix was in: the Senate stripped the RPS and the tax title from the bill and the deal was done -the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill, 86-8. Despite several White House veto threats, this was a bill the administration could live with; indeed, they signed it and largely took credit for it. In the end, the bill contained 18 titles and included a major renewable fuels standard (ethanol), R&D for carbon capture technologies, key changes on energy efficiency (lighting, appliances, and buildings), and the landmark CAFE increases, but no RPS and no tax title. Rest assured, both these issues will be revisited next year. Congress also approved a final omnibus spending measure, consisting of all the appropriations bills (except defense), plus some war spending. A few energy provisions were included: the requisite spending figures for PMAs (without any controversial anti-PMA proposals); LIHEAP funding (but below earlier budget requests); and the annual funding for the public power REPI program at less than $5 million. It hasn't happened yet, but the omnibus will be signed by the president soon; just yesterday he signed another CR that keeps the federal government running until Dec. 31.