ALG, energy and limited government groups urge Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to engage in Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act reform

March 4, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government was joined by nine major energy and limited government leaders in urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to “engage in comprehensive (Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act) PURPA reform” in a jointly signed letter released today.

The letter explains that “In the wake of a national energy crisis, PURPA was signed into law in 1978 to encourage, among other things, more renewable energy, at ‘equitable retail rates for electric consumers.’ But over four decades since PURPA’s passage, the nation’s energy landscape has changed profoundly, including the development of regional, wholesale, competitive electricity markets, and the fact that the U.S. has reduced oil-fired electric generation, the central motivation behind PURPA, to just 1 percent of all generation in 2015, down from 16.5 percent in 1978.  Yet in the face of this, PURPA’s stale, static federal mandates remain in place, distorting markets and harming consumers.”

Now more than forty years later, it is time for the type of comprehensive reform which reflects modern energy and economic realities, including the emergence of renewable energy sources, the domestic energy production renaissance which has made America the “Saudi Arabia” of natural gas production and a net energy exporter.

FERC is the federal agency responsible for overseeing PURPA, and the letter expresses the signators’ encouragement by “FERC Chairman (Neil) Chatterjee’s statement that aligning PURPA with our modern energy landscape is one of FERC’s 2019 areas of focus.”

The letter was signed by Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle, Council on National Policy Executive Director and former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen, Frontiers of Freedom President George Landrith, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz, Competitive for Enterprise Institute Center for Energy and Environment Director Myron Ebell, former Assistant Secretary of Interior Becky Norton Dunlop, Constitutional Congress, Inc. Chairman Ken Blackwell, Heartland Institute President & CEO Tim Huelskamp, and Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan and was sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 4, 2019.

Attachments:

Letter to FERC urging PURPA reform, March 4, 2019 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PURPA-Letter-3-4-19.pdf

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview.

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