ISSUES (2020-2021)
NEPPA Legislative Priorities
Reform ISO-New England’s capacity market
The markets are under tremendous pressure because policymakers want other significant objectives, besides price, taken into consideration in the energy mix–such as carbon emissions, fuel diversity, fuel security, and local jobs.
Support meaningful climate legislation
An economy-wide approach to carbon reduction will support all clean energy sources (including important baseload resources such as nuclear and hydropower) as well as encourage innovation, efficiency, and electrification of the transportation and buildings sector.
Streamline hydropower relicensing
Keep working to enact legislation that establishes FERC as the lead agency in the licensing process to promote schedule discipline, coordination, and resolving conflicting requirements – all of which can be done without sacrificing environmental quality.
Protect local control over utility poles for safe and efficient broadband and 5G rollout
In an effort to remove perceived barriers to high-speed internet access, the FCC asserted in September 2018 that municipal utility procedures and fee structures governing pole attachment applications must meet narrowly defined FCC standards – which benefit telecom companies at the expense of public power utilities and their customers. Please cosponsor H.R. 530 and S. 2012, to ensure utilities have time to evaluate the safety of attachments.
Keep transmission rates low for consumers
FERC must examine its process for awarding return on investment and incentives for building transmission to ensure it is not simply rubber-stamping developers’ plans at great cost to consumers.