View this email in a web browser.
Kochs target Republicans on tax breaks
Powerful conservative groups including those backed by the Koch Brothers are pushing Republicans to take a hard line on a raft of expired tax breaks pending in the lame duck, an effort that could jeopardize party leaders’ hopes for a low-drama Congress. Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Action for America and others want Republicans to capitalize on their election victory by killing some of the tax “extenders” they’ve long hated, such as a one subsidizing the wind energy industry. Americans for Prosperity said it will spend $200,000 targeting 25 House Republicans on the wind issue. Among them: Reps. Gus Bilirakis (Fla.), Larry Bucshon (Ind.), Renee Ellmers (N.C.) and Michael Turner (Ohio). [ read more … ]
FERC approves expansion of Southwest Power Pool
SPP will now integrate the Western Area Power Administration — Upper Great Plains Region, Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Heartland Consumers Power District. Together, the new members provide the backbone of the bulk electric transmission system across seven states in the Upper Great Plains region, consisting of about 9,500 miles of transmission lines, according to FERC. [ read more … ]
Comment: Why the nation needs a national electrical transmission plan now
A nation as large and diverse as the United States should not address major transmission development without a national plan. We should be siting and building major transmission lines to wind and solar rich areas of the nation now. Just as waiting for private developers to build a hodgepodge of roads did not work for the national highway system, it will not work for the grid. The plan will require leadership from federal and state governments and must consider and incorporate regional differences in electricity delivery systems. [ read more … ]
Iowa agencies comment on proposed EPA clean power plan
Three Iowa agencies told the federal government a proposed rule that would force utilities to reduce carbon emissions should not significantly increase consumer costs or jeopardize reliability. The joint comments were submitted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Utilities Board, and the Iowa Economic Development Authority to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday. EPA has proposed existing power plants reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming an average of 30 percent by 2030. Iowa’s goal is lower — 16 percent — because of the generation of green power, especially from wind, federal leaders have said. Iowa leads the nation in the amount of energy it gets from wind, about 27 percent of its total portfolio, officials have said. Still, about 60 percent of Iowa’s energy comes from coal, a large contributor to greenhouse emissions. [ read more … ]
States square off over lawsuit to block EPA carbon rule
Months before U.S. EPA’s proposed rule on power-sector carbon emissions becomes final, battle lines are already hardening between states that support the rule and those that would see it quashed. This week, attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus curiae brief with the D.C. Court of Appeals in support of EPA’s authority to regulate carbon, asking the court to throw out an earlier lawsuit by Murray Energy Inc. and nine states that sought to block the rule. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.