Lawmakers

A day after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration and state lawmakers stirred the global warming pot, the governor on Tuesday called for a “Climate Action Summit” next week in San Francisco and directed the state Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to hold a series of six public discussion sessions in the major regions of the state to consider the implications of the 1,300-page climate report released Monday.

Key Democratic lawmakers, including Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, expressed deep dissatisfaction with the Senate Budget Committee’s approval Thursday of a provision authorizing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of the budget package for fiscal year 2007.

As part of an annual review and overview for state lawmakers, California’s chief utility regulator, Michael Peevey, last Wednesday provided a broad energy picture that included higher rates for electricity and natural gas but increased reliability, infrastructure additions and renewable/energy efficiency programs. Peevey also pointed to streamlining of the regulatory processes last year, compared to the previous year.

The long-standing “phantom tax” issue that Oregon lawmakers tried to fix this year (Senate Bill 408) prompted a 29-page opinion last Tuesday from state Attorney General Hardy Myers, giving state regulators broad authority to make annual adjustments to keep the tax payment collection component of rates consistent with what each private-sector utility pays for a given year. Consumer groups and utilities are promoting different implementation approaches.

House and Senate tax writers have finalized $14.5 billion of energy tax incentives over 10 years to be included in the sweeping energy bill that lawmakers are expected to vote on this week before they leave for their August recess. The House is poised to take up the measure (HR 6) Thursday, with the Senate to follow on Friday.

Several Alaska lawmakers and labor leaders are backing a new proposed ballot measure that would place a tax on the booked Alaska natural gas reserves of producers until they place into service a natural gas pipeline to the Lower 48 states.

A top energy analyst believes there’s a 60% chance that Congress will pass an omnibus energy bill this year, although she doubts that lawmakers will meet President Bush’s request for the measure to be delivered to him by Aug. 1 (HR 6).

Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) Commissioner Kevin Wright would like to see state lawmakers adopt legislation that would give the ICC guidance as the state commission starts to consider an ambitious renewable portfolio standard (RPS) recently proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

California’s governor virtually bypassed energy issues in his state of the state message last week and information on energy plans is expected to emerge slowly, along with indications from the state legislature on whether separate new comprehensive energy bills will be pushed separately by the Democratic majority and Republicans.