COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Thursday, April 26, 2012
10:00 a.m.

• Press Release - Committee Hears How Secretary Chu’s Washington, D.C. Directives Could Raise Electricity Rates and Override Regional Energy Successes (4/26/12)
• Press Release - Hastings Invites Secretary Chu to Testify on PMA Memorandum that Could Increase Energy Rates for Millions of American Families (4/5/2012)
• Official Hearing Transcript

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

• "Increased Electricity Costs for American Families and Small Businesses: The Potential Impacts of the Chu Memorandum"

OPENING STATEMENT:

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

The Honorable Glenn English
CEO
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Arlington, Virginia
(Truth in Testimony Form)

The Honorable Jason Marks
Commissioner
New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Mark Crisson
CEO
American Public Power Association
Washington, DC
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Monty Humble
President & COO
Brightman Energy LLC
Austin, Texas
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Scott Corwin
Executive Director
Public Power Council
Portland, Oregon
(Truth in Testimony Form)

Joel Bladow
Senior Vice President – Transmission
Tri-State Generation and Transmission
Westminster, Colorado
(Truth in Testimony Form)

BACKGROUND:

This hearing will focus on how DOE Secretary Steven Chu’s Memorandum on the Power Marketing Administrations dramatically changes these agencies missions and could lead to electricity rate increases and energy cost socialization. This is the latest effort by this Administration to raise the cost of energy in troubled economic times. Secretary Chu’s memo undermines low-cost hydropower and may actually harm local and regional efforts designed to promote energy efficiency and conservation. It is another top-down, Washington, DC-knows-best effort to impose higher costs on electricity consumers who will receive little or no benefit from these efforts.

Related Hearing:

• Hearing - Full Committee Oversight Hearing on "The Chu Memorandum: Directives Could Increase Electricity Costs for over 40 Million Families and Small Businesses" (9/11/2012)