Public Power - November/December 2007 - (Page 14)

10 Questions at a Public Power Lineworkers Rodeo. with Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., Rep. John Dingell, DMich., and Jim Weeks of Michigan Municipal Electric Association. This obviously includes choices regarding technologies and choices that take into account the cost of carbon emissions. As to technologies, Congress must understand what is and what is not technologically feasible today and what might be feasible in 10 to 20 years. Carbon capture and storage, for example, is not yet ready for prime time. As for cost, I think a carbon tax would be the most cost-effective way to address the issue, but it’s not politically acceptable to many people. Most members of Congress who are proposing solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are focused on imposing limits on total emissions through the issuance of emission allowances and then allow the trading of such allowances—a “cap-and-trade” proposal. Whatever means Congress with retired APPA Executive Vice President Dave Penn. 5 and a significant number of non-utility power generators were focused exclusively on profits. Customers suffered as a result. There was a great editorial in the Sacramento Bee at that time about our society’s failure to learn lessons from history. The Bee observed that we’d forgotten that public power had historically provided discipline for the private utility marketplace. This was a lesson of history and we should never again forget that the public interest cannot be delegated to the private sector. If Congress promised you a legislative gift on the occasion of your retirement, what would you ask for? I wish Congress would settle on a policy to address climate change as 6 horizon. Congress is much better at trying to remedy situations that have occurred. If I could ask for one thing, I would ask for them to give us rules of the game and let us move forward. Suppose the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission offered you a gift as well. What gift would you seek from the commission? A complete reassessment of where we are in terms of the whole push to rely on market forces to set just and reasonable rates. I don’t believe the wholesale markets are sufficiently competitive to the point where we can rely on them to set just and reasonable rates as required under the Federal Power Act. You’ve lived and worked in Washington for 35 years and one of your earliest jobs was assistant to the House parliamentarian, then you were majority counsel for the House Committee on Rules—so you’ve seen Congress from the inside and from the outside. How has the culture of Congress and national policymaking changed during your years here? It seems to me that things were much more civil on Capitol Hill 30 years ago. There was more respect for the institution and members of Congress had more respect for each other. However, I was pretty new to the game when I was working on Capitol Hill. I have learned over the years that politics is a contact sport. And the rancor that exists today is due in large part to the fact that we have a very closely divided Congress. This makes PUBLIC POWER 7 We need to make the right choices and Congress needs to establish policies regarding climate change so that we know what the right choices are. quickly and as prudently possible so that our industry knows the rules of the game and can plan accordingly. Congress shouldn’t act in haste, but it should act. We need new generation resources. What we build today or in the next few years will be with us for decades. We need to make the right choices and Congress needs to establish policies regarding climate change so that we know what the right choices are. 14 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 selects to deal with the problem, it should make that policy with all deliberate speed. Our industry is on the verge of making investments in facilities that have 40- or 50-year useful lives and public power systems need to know what the rules of the game are going to be in those out years. Congress needs to move forward and try to address the issue. Unfortunately, Congress does not do well looking forward trying to address problems that are on the

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November/December 2007

Public Power - November/December 2007 Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Connecting with the Customer Through Automation AMR or AMI? The High Court’s Antitrust Thunderbolts California’s Push for Demand-Response Plug-In Partners Get Plugged In Wiring Up for Double-Digit Growth For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards DEED Customer Service Hometown Connections Index to Advertisers Parting shot

Public Power - November/December 2007

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