HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 1990-01 - Board RESOLUTION NO. 9001
OF THE
TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
H. R. 3030 - ACID RAIN LEGISLATION
WHEREAS, the Truckee Donner Public Utility District (TDPUD)
supports a national effort to clean up our nation' s lakes, rivers
and streams due to acid rain deposition. As a member of the
American Public Power Association (APPA) , the TDPUD supports the
public policy and legislative positions taken by APPA, and its Acid
Rain Steering Committee; and
WHEREAS, H. R. 3030 virtually restricts clean utilities from growth
by granting emissions credits to utilities which polluted heavily
during the baseline period of 1985 to 1987, thereby forcing all
other utilities to purchase these credits from them. The bill
assumes a liquidity in the market for credits which simply does not
and will not exist. Under this scenario, a clean utility would be
at the mercy of a dirty competitor for rights to add competitive
capacity; and
r� WHEREAS, the TDPUD supports national cost-sharing to aid in the
clean up of polluting plants and supports an emissions tax on all
stationary sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide to garner
the money needed to provide cost-sharing. This emissions tax must
also be extended to industrial sources of pollution which
constitute more than 1/3 of the nation's acid rain problem. The
TDPUD opposes a tax on electric generation -- a utility should pay
an emissions tax proportionate to the amount it pollutes. H. R.
3030 contains no cost-sharing and does not include industrial
sources;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the TDPUD will support
comprehensive federal acid rain legislation only if the proposal
is modified according to the following:
Section 1. Amend the 1985-87 emissions baseline concept
by granting all utilities which use clean, renewable
technologies an initial growth allowance. This approach
would reward low emissions and environmental
responsibility -- a goal which should be part of any acid
rain legislation, and
Section 2. Remove the emissions growth credits from the
"free" market, where they could be used as competitive
weapons by the "haves" against the "have nots. "
Establish a public domain for the credits, preferably on
the local level, to ensure that the fine-tuning necessary
i
to achieve a balance between environmental and economic
concerns is reached and that no entity is effectively
frozen out of the allowances scheme, and
Section 3 . A "use-it-or-lose-it" provision for growth
allowances which would prevent hoarding of allowances by
some utilities to competitively disadvantage other
(smaller) utility competitors, and
Section 4 . Retention of the 75 MW unit cut-off for small
utilities because it is not cost-effective to reduce
emissions on small units which causes small utilities to
be con-competitive, nor is it cost-effective for the
nation as a whole, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the District Clerk make copies of this
resolution available to members of the U. S. Senate and House of
Representatives committees that have jurisdiction over the acid
rain legislation to ensure TDPUD's policy position is known to our
elected officials.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Directors of the TDPUD at a
meeting duly called and held within the District on the 2nd day of
January 1990 by the following roll call vote:
AYES: Aguera, Corbett, Curran and Maass.
NOES: Sutton.
ABSENT: None.
TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
By a
J s A. Maass, President
ATTEST
Susan M. Craig, Deputy Dist at Clerk
smc