Today the Senate is debating a Republican amendment to the Railroad Retirement bill, that would add the non-tax provisions of the House energy bill, H.R. 4, as well as a six-months ban on human cloning. A cloture vote is scheduled on this for 5:15 pm Monday, December 3. If 60 Senators vote in favor of this cloture motion, debate will be limited and a yes or no vote on the motion will be taken. H.R. 4 contained numerous provisions beneficial to NEMA members, but does not include major electricity provisions.

On a related issue, today, Senators Murkowski and Santorum are expected meet with the Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth (AEEG) Management Committee in order to discuss Energy Strategy.

NEMA has seen a draft summary of the key provisions of the comprehensive Senate Democrat energy proposal Senator Daschle said he would unveil next week, before the railroad retirement amendment above, came up. NEMA worked extensively with the Senate to achieve a favorable outcome on electricity and efficiency provisions, among other issues. The draft measure has numerous provisions advantageous for NEMA member companies including:

-Encouragement of regional coordination of planning for energy infrastructure

-Connection of generators to transmission system, including intermittent generators

-FERC authority for mandatory and enforceable electric reliability standards with deference to NERC or RTOs on the standards

-Requirement for states to consider a standard for real-time pricing

-Requirement for electric suppliers to provide net metering for renewables and fuel cells

-Increased funding for LIHEAP and state weatherization programs

-Extension of state energy programs

-Increased goals for Federal energy efficiency

-Requirement for metering and sub-metering for Federal facilities with real-time metering to reduce energy consumption and costs

-Requirement for DOE to establish new efficiency standards for new Federal buildings

-Requirement for Federal government to purchase energy efficient products (Energy Star or FEMP)

-Extension of energy savings performance contracts program and expansion to include replacement facilities

-Authorization of Federal Energy Bank subject to appropriations. (The energy bank concept enables government to upgrade efficiency without using operating funds.)

-Provides statutory authority for Energy Star program

-Legislates standards for exit signs, torchiere fixtures, and low voltage dry-type transformers

-Provides for a Next Generation Lighting Initiative

-Expanded R&D for renewables, fossil energy and nuclear energy

-R&D for critical energy infrastructure

-International clean energy technology transfer

Although we have not seen the details, as yet, the Senate Democrat bill includes controversial provisions on global climate issues, and is likely to include air-conditioning standards and automobile fuel economy, which Republicans don't want. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which Republicans (and some energy state Democrats) want is not in the bill. Senate Majority Leader Daschle stated this week that he is committed to bringing up an energy bill on the Senate floor within the first weeks after Congress returns in January.

House Energy Bill Update. The House passed H.R. 4 in August 2001, which includes numerous energy efficiency provisions good for NEMA members. H.R. 4 did not include major electricity provisions. The House strategy has been to delay finalizing the electricity provisions until a Senate bill was passed. Now that some action may occur in the Senate, the House is working on its electricity bill based on a previous draft by Rep. Barton, Chair of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. Barton's previous draft was very favorable to NEMA members and NEMA will be working hard to keep it that way.

NEMA Meets With Senate Staff on Stimulus Bill and Energy Tax Incentives. NEMA held discussions this week with key tax staff of the Senate Finance Committee, and the offices of Senators Gramm (R-TX) and Bingaman (D-NM) (both are members of the influential Senate Finance Committee, and Bingaman is also Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee). We were advocating 4 items:

For the Senate stimulus bill-- (1) extending the period of eligibility for the tax credit for long lived property by extending the one-year contracting period or (2) by allowing progress payments as costs are incurred for a project contracted for in the short eligibility period. We also wanted these scored, which SFC agreed to do. Scoring means determining the cost of a tax provision to the US Treasury, a necessary condition for Senate consideration.

For the Senate energy tax bill to be drafted in January 2002-- (3) eliminating the "50% over" design efficiency for the commercial building ASHRAE 90.1-1999 $2.25 tax credit that appears in H.R. 4. (4) Eliminating the S. 596 provision for efficiency over TP 1 for a 15% tax credit for low core loss transformers.

Senate Finance staff agreed to determine the cost of the NEMA -proposed depreciation alternatives and all staff members understood the NEMA rationale for our positions. NEMA's comments were well received and doors were opened to future discussions to secure these important revisions. Senate staff will draft the tax provisions on energy policy in January and this is a major opportunity for us to influence the results.

New York State Purchasing Requirements Updates. NEMA sent comments to New York reiterating our position that fluorescent lamp Ballast Efficacy Factors should be in accordance with DOE regulatory requirements (not way above) and that electronic ballasts should not be used with T12 34-watt lamps. The next round will likely include New York attempts to prescribe high luminaire efficiency ratings, possibly without adequate consideration of other key design considerations. NEMA continues to take a hard line on these and other issues.

Additional Possible Products for DOE Efficiency Rulemaking. A reply to DOE's request for input on this matter has been prepared for submittal next week and this will be discussed with Assistant Secretary Garman on Monday. The four products DOE is considering are HID lamps, fluorescent lamps, incandescent reflector lamps, and incandescent general service lamps. Our response points out that possible regulation would probably not result in anywhere near the DOE estimated energy savings and that many of these products are already regulated by DOE and/or FTC. The response also states that a better avenue for increased efficiency may be to enforce the Energy Star guidelines for Compact Fluorescent Lamps rather than additional regulation of incandescent general service lamps.