As a result of a previous agreement to work on North Korea trade sanctions legislation, on February 9, the Senate energy bill was pulled from the floor. Progress on the bill stalled when an agreement could not be reached on an aid package to help Flint, Mich., address their lead-contaminated drinking water problem. The bill had enjoyed broad bipartisan support until the impasse on assistance for Flint stymied progress. Both parties worked over the weekend in an attempt to reach a compromise but were unable to do so. Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) filed a petition for cloture to bring debate on the bill to a close and move it towards final passage. Unfortunately, with the Flint assistance issue unresolved, the vote pretty much fell along party lines (43-54) and as a result was far short of the 60 vote threshold needed to invoke cloture. In pulling the bill from the floor yesterday, Majority Leader McConnell communicated he was not giving up on the energy bill. He further stated that the bill has “too much support on a bipartisan basis for us to walk away from it."
The legislation contains several provisions supported by APGA including language that delays the Department of Energy’s (DOE) implementation of the furnace rule to allow stakeholders the opportunity to negotiate and reach agreement on a rule that makes sense. Specifically, the furnace language in the bill would prohibit DOE from prescribing a final natural gas furnace rule until:
1. DOE convenes a representative advisory group of interested stakeholders, including, among others, manufacturers, distributors, contractors, home builders, energy efficiency advocates, natural gas utilities, electric utilities, and consumer groups;
2. That advisory group completes an analysis of a nationwide requirement of a condensing furnace efficiency standard within one year including a complete analysis of current market trends regarding the transition of sales from non-condensing furnaces to condensing furnaces, the projected net loss in the industry of the present value of original equipment manufactured after adoption of the standard, the projected consumer payback period and lifecycle cost savings, a determination of whether the standard is economically justified, and other common economic principles; and,
3. The advisory group makes a determination as to whether a nationwide requirement of a condensing furnace efficiency standard is technically feasible and economically justified and that determination would be published in the Federal Register.
Should the advisory group determine that a nationwide requirement of a condensing furnace efficiency standard is not technically feasible and economically justified, DOE is required to, within 180 days from the date the determination is published in the Federal Register, establish amended standards through a negotiated rulemaking process. By contrast, the furnace language in the House-passed energy bill delays DOE’s furnace rule until July 2016 to allow stakeholders the opportunity to continue negotiations.
With the bill being pulled from the floor, its fate remains unclear. The bill could be brought to the floor at some point in the future and if an agreement on an assistance package for Flint can be reached, whether it is part of the Senate energy bill or moves through Congress in another form, it is anticipated that the bill could move towards passage fairly quickly. However, if and once the Senate passes a bill, a conference committee will need to be formed to resolve differences between the Senate energy bill and the energy bill passed by the House. The final bill will need to be brought back to the House and Senate floor again for a vote and then will be sent to the President in a form, meaning the bill has strong support from Democrats, where he will agree to sign it into law. There is still a fair amount of work that would need to be done towards getting an energy bill signed into law.
For questions on this article, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at dschryver@apga.org.