WRAP UP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
08/03/12

IN CONGRESS

A Continuing Resolution will fund the federal government through the first six months of Fiscal Year 2013 thanks to an agreement reached between Congressional leaders and the White House this week. Pushing debate on critical funding issues beyond the November elections, the deal struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama provides a top-line funding level of $1.047 trillion, largely matching Fiscal Year 2012 spending levels established under the Budget Control Act. “This agreement reached between the Senate, the House and the White House provides stability for the coming months, when we will have to resolve critical issues that directly affect middle class families,” Reid said in a statement. “The funding levels in the six-month CR will correspond to the top-line funding level of $1.047 trillion. I hope that we can face the challenges ahead in the same spirit of compromise.” In a statement, Reid said the CR won’t be voted on until September, which will give agencies time to push for anomalies in the stopgap funding measures.

The House this week passed a bill by voice vote that would shield utilities from Environmental Protection Agency fines for breaking environmental regulations while operating under federal emergency orders from the Department of Energy. Under the Federal Power Act, DOE has the authority to demand that utilities run electric generating units to avoid reliability-related emergencies on the power grid. However, those orders sometimes contradict EPA environmental regulations that bar units from operating beyond a certain number of hours. Introduced by a group of Republicans and centrist Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the “Grid Reliability Conflicts Act” aims to amend the Federal Power Act so that EPA cannot punish unities for operating in noncompliance if DOE orders the units to run. “My bill fixes an important glitch in federal law that puts power generators in the unenviable position of choosing which federal law they will violate—a DOE emergency order or environmental laws that expose them to citizen lawsuits,” bill co-sponsor Pete Olson (R-Texas) said in a floor speech this week. “The bipartisan support this bill has received is proof that we can find common ground when working to address a critical glitch in federal law, protect the environment and provide a reliable energy supply to all Americans.”

AT DOE

Former Secretary of Energy Adm. James Watkins died late last week at the age of 85. According to reports, Watkins had suffered from congestive heart failure. Watkins served as Energy Secretary under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. In a statement yesterday, current Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said, “Admiral Watkins was a dedicated public servant who served this Department and his country…. At the Department of Energy, he helped steer the enterprise through the earliest days of the post-Cold War era, leaving behind a strong legacy and a stronger Department. We are grateful for his service to his country, and our thoughts are with his friends and family.”