COM 0967.000 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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authorizes EPA regional offices to resolve the Superfund liability of all local governments which generated or transported MSW to Superfund sites, or owned landfills which were placed on the federal Superfund list. Potentially 750 local governments, as well as thousands of small businesses, legally involved at 250 Superfund sites are eligible for the protections offered by the EPA policy. On May 18, a coalition of industry groups sued the EPA to throw out the Settlement Policy. The groups involved are the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Electronic Industries Alliance, and the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. ELECTRIC UTILITY RESTRUCTURING After several months of inactivity, the issue of electricity restructuring has sprung back - if not exactly to life, at least to some degree of attention on the Hill - with the release of a new "pre-markup draft" bill that is a combination of two comprehensive electricity bills introduced by Members on the Commerce Committee's Energy and Power Subcommittee. The draft combines provisions from H.R. 655, introduced last year by the Subcommittee chairman, Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO), and a draft bill - circulated but never introduced - by Reps. Steve Largent (R-OK) and Bill Paxon (R-NY). It calls for states to introduce competition in the electricity retail market by January 1, 2001, but states that have already adopted competition plans would be "grandfathered". By the year 2010 utilities would have buy at least 4% of their supplies from renewable sources. States would have the discretion to handle the stranded costs issue as they decided. Other provisions include labeling of price and source of generation, and protection against market power abuses. TVA would be allowed to preserve its existing retail power contracts outside its mandated areas, but other power marketing administrations were not mentioned in the draft bill. Also absent are provisions regarding taxes, which will likely be addressed in the Ways and Means Committee. No hearings on the bill are expected and action in the House Energy and Power Subcommittee could take place when Congress returns from its August recess. The Administration also unveiled their bill, to be introduced by Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, on June 26. The bill would allow customers to choose their electricity supplier by Jan. 1, 2003, but a state could opt out of retail competition if it believed that its consumers would be better off under the status quo or an alternative state plan. At least 5.5 % of all electricity sales would be required to be generated from renewable energy sources by the year 2010 under the bill. A public benefit fund would be established to pay for low-income assistance, energy efficiency programs and 3