The Source - Fall 2008 - (Page 25)

legislative outlook OUR SUCCESSES Farm Bill Congress overwhelmingly passed the Farm Bill in May 2008 including language supported by APGA that would significantly increase transparency in the natural gas market. The new law grants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more authority to monitor a greater portion of the natural gas market, including domestic and over-the-counter (OTC) trades. This new authority will help CFTC catch potential market abuses before they occur. The bill also increases penalties for market violations. APGA believes that additional market transparency will give CFTC regulators another tool to prevent large traders, like Amaranth Advisors LLC, from attempting to manipulate energy markets. Increased transparency will help restore consumer confidence in the natural gas market’s ability to set price by the fundamentals of supply and demand. OUR CHALLENGES Climate change Last June, the U.S. Senate debated legislation, called the LiebermannWarner Climate Security Act, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This debate gave an important sneak peek into how the next Congress and administration plans to address global climate change. Both presidential candidates support cap-and-trade legislation (i.e., capping the amount of carbon emissions and creating tradable credits that allow certain entities to pollute). With an increasingly Democratic majority in Congress and support from many moderate Republicans, cap-and-trade legislation is extremely likely to become law in the next two or three years. Access to supply APGA continues to push Congress to open additional areas under moratoria for exploration and production of natural gas. However, there is likely to be little appetite in the next Congress to open additional areas of supply under federal moratoria. Rising energy prices and costs of climate change legislation could potentially change the dynamic of this debate and intensify public pressure to increase domestic supply. Energy prices rose to record levels in 2008, and both the majority and minority in Congress put forth plans to address energy prices. Both plans contained controversial provisions that lack broad support and will be used largely for messaging purposes during the election season. The Republican plan proposed to open additional areas for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and certain areas in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Democratic plan included a windfall profits tax on oil companies, cracking down on price gouging and excess DID YOU KNOW? The three top factors that inﬂuence the decision process of elected ofﬁcials most are: Visits by constituents; Individualized correspondence from constituents; and Local media attention to constituent issues. —from Communicating with Congress, a study conducted by Peter Hart Research Associates. speculation, investing in alternative energy and temporarily suspending filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The only provision to reach broad agreement in both chambers and become law was to suspend filling the SPR. The Senate also voted 42-56 to reject an amendment led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) to open additional areas for oil and gas exploration in the ANWR and certain areas in the OCS. This bill was never expected to pass and was taken largely as a messaging tool used to address high gas prices. The House of Representatives does not plan to vote on any legislation to open additional areas under moratoria. APGA will continue to make the case to Congress that increasing the domestic supply of natural gas is a fundamental component of the solution to bring rising prices back to a long-term affordable level. APGA also will argue that, to the extent additional natural gas demand is created by climate change policy goals, there needs to be a policy goal that achieves an identical increase in the amount of natural gas supply. THE SOURCE | FALL 2008 , VOL. 1, ISSUE 1 25

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Source - Fall 2008

The Source - Fall 2008 Contents First Person APGA Awards APGA Events Overview Up Next in THE SOURCE Grassroots Connections Climate Change Legislation Market Transparency: An Insider's View Legislative Outlook The Pipeline Marketing Matters Advertisers' Index At Last

The Source - Fall 2008

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