HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
144th GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO.45 |
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RECOMMENDING THAT ALL FEES BEING PAID TO THOSE TESTIFYING BEFORE THE SENATE ENERGY & TRANSIT COMMITTEE IN ORDER TO FURTHER SENATOR HARRIS MCDOWELL’S PERSONAL AGENDA, NOT BE REIMBURSED BY STATE FUNDS, AND INSTEAD, MUST BE SETTLED INSTEAD BETWEEN THAT SENATOR AND THOSE WHO CAME TO TESTIFY, AS A PERSONAL DEBT OWED TO THEM BY THAT SAID SENATOR. |
WHEREAS, House Bill 6 of the 143rd General Assembly (the Electric Utility Retail Customer Supply Act of 2006), signed into law by the Governor on April 6, 2006, establishes a process for procuring a new energy source based in Delaware; and
WHEREAS, House Bill 6 set forth the criteria for selecting a new energy generating source, including the cost-effectiveness of the project in producing energy price stability, reduced environmental impact, the benefits of adopting new and emerging technology, siting feasibility and the terms and conditions concerning the sale of energy output from such facilities; and WHEREAS, the Public Service Commission, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Energy Office and the Controller General were given authority under House Bill 6 to select a bidder; and WHEREAS, the Request for Proposal issued under House Bill 6 established a competitive process in which three proposals for power were submitted, an IGCC coal power facility, a new natural gas facility and an offshore wind power facility, all of which were reviewed and evaluated; and WHEREAS, on May 22, 2007, the Public Service Commission, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Energy Office and the Controller General directed that Delmarva Power enter into negotiations with Bluewater Wind to build an offshore wind power facility in Delaware, and to submit a term sheet outlining the major provisions of an agreement; and
WHEREAS, on November 20, 2007, the Public Service Commission, Office of Management and Budget, the Energy Office and the Office of the Controller General held a hearing on the Bluewater Wind term sheet and directed Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind to submit a Power Purchase Agreement for consideration on December 18, 2007; and
WHEREAS, the negotiations that were held between November 20, 2007, and December 10, 2007, resulted in a more favorable agreement from the perspective of Delmarva residential ratepayers than was embodied in the term sheet; and
WHEREAS, the negotiations have produced a Power Purchase Agreement to build and operate in Delaware the nation’s first offshore wind power facility; and WHEREAS, the Public Service Commission staff report finds that the Power Purchase Agreement meets the criteria established by House Bill 6, including price stability, reduced environmental impact, and the use of new technology; and WHEREAS, operation of the proposed offshore wind farm would provide jobs for Delawareans and make Delaware a leader in a new industry at a time when manufacturing jobs are disappearing; and WHEREAS, construction of the proposed offshore wind power facility would make a significant contribution to a reduction in greenhouse gas and toxic pollution emissions; and WHEREAS, citizens of Delaware have offered thousands of comments and letters in favor of the proposed wind power facility; and WHEREAS, the Public Service Commission, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Energy Office and the Controller General did not act on the Power Purchase Agreement because of the lack of a consensus among the four entities; and WHEREAS, approval of the Power Purchase Agreement would endow Delmarva Power’s customers with protection against future price increases and price volatility due to the rising cost of electricity produced from fossil fuels and international political uncertainties.
WHEREAS, the public was not given any right of full participation in those hearings hosted by the Senate Energy & Transit Committee, and witnesses hired by members of this committee and paid out of public state funds, were not given, not did they seek to provide, the option to be cross examined by those representing an opposite viewpoint, Ie the 90% of Delawareans who favor the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement between Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind, which has allowed for the content of these hearings to become suspect, at best, and deceitful, at worst.
WHEREAS, as of the time this resolution was being written, our state financial outlook is grim, facing an estimated shorfall of 326 million dollars, and currently all state agencies are facing 3-10% cutbacks for this and next year, and only those services deemed absolutely necessary, will be funded by state monies generated by Delaware’s bond issue and taxpayers.
WHEREAS, $35, 000 was mis-spent on a legal fee to one Randall Speck in an attempt to discredit the head of the Delaware Public Service Commission, who last year lead all parties through a complicated, yet completely transparent process, which culminated in reaching the previously mentioned signed Power Purchase Agreement. Its chairperson, Arnetta McRae, who nobly served this state’s best interest, only to endure, having no prior warning or notice, through a personally disrespectful and demeaning grilling at the hands of the above mentioned lawyer Randall Speck, who was hired using state funds by Harris McDowell, chairman of the Senate Energy & Transit Committee, and despite being supported by public funding, unprofessionally went against all honorable and ethical standards previously agreed to, by the leadership of all parties pertaining to this legislative body,
WHEREAS, no public good was accomplished by this expenditure, and other members of that committee have refused to pass the report based on the tone with which it was written, thereby sending it back into committee.
NOW THEREFORE: BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 144th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the Senate concurring therein, that it is the requirement of the General Assembly that the Controller General verify that this expenditure and others given to witnesses who were allowed to testify, but received no true cross examination by opponents holding opposing or different viewpoints in order to determine either the validity or the quality of their knowledge of windpower, as it applies to Delaware’s energy future, (and whose opinions were later discredited in public conversations on several of Delaware’s highly rated blogs as being incorrect), ARE NOT to be reimbursed by the State Treasury of Delaware, and that NO funding, currently in use, is to be diverted to the purpose of paying off those witnesses. mentioned above.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the upcoming report comprised by the Senate Energy & Transit Committee discrediting the Power Purchase Agreement between Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind, be considered by this body, the House of Representatives of the 144th Legislative Session, to be highly suspect of being untruthful, and of perpetuating a policy supported by only a handful of Senators marching in allegiance with Delmarva Power. whose negligent conclusions were reached from only listening to one sided testimony. The House of Representatives calls for this report to be publically debated on its merits, on the Senate floor, and resolved by a open floor vote of all parties, done in full public view of Delaware’s citizens.
SYNOPSIS
This Concurrent Resolution recommends that the Controller General determine that no public funds shall be used to pay for witnesses appearing before the Senate Energy Committees hearings regarding the Power Purchase Agreement between Bluewater Wind and Delmarva Power because, in the opinion of the majority of thIS General Assembly, the actions taken by that said committee in their effort to discredit a proposed Power Purchase Agreement which met the criteria set forth in House Bill 6 of the 143rd General Assembly and is in the best interests of the citizens of this State, do not constitute a wise use of public funds. This Concurrent Resolution further requests that the full Senate debates publicly and openly all future recommendations being made by the Senate Energy Committee, since opposing viewpoints were not vetted at the hearing level. By a majority of the House of Representatives of the 144th Session of the Delaware General Assembly, this body condemns those tactics taken by Harris McDowell in his pursuit to discredit the viability of the state of Delaware having its own electrical generation facility off the coast of Rehoboth Beach.
4 comments
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April 14, 2008 at 10:57 pm
john kowalko
Kavips,
How about the following?
Be it resolved that the PSC is hereby directed to deny Delmarva Power’s request to recoup any and all expenditures made to advertise or conduct the false advertising campaign constructed by Delmarva against the best interest of the Ratepayers. This resolution forbids Delmarva Power’s stated intention to recover its outlays for waging a harmful propaganda campaign against the best interests of its customers from those same ratepayers.
BWW has spent its own funds to study and comprise a legitimately beneficial contract in an extremely competitive and complicated proceeding and as an honest business enterprise is not seeking recovery of these outlays at taxpayer expense. In fact BWW has had to expend considerable resources to offset the unfounded and disingenuous campaign waged by Delmarva Power against the BWW proposal and could possibly seek relief from Pepco Holdings as the parent company of Delmarva
It is hereby resolved that the Public Service Commission as the controlling Regulatory Agency in this matter deny any attempt and/or request by Delmarva Power to include a pass-through surcharge to its customers to recover monies spent in its ill-advised campaign to obstruct the best interests of its customers.
All monetary investments and expenditures other than those made in pursuit of satisfying the requirements of HB 6 should be borne by Delmarva Power and Light and its parent company PHI and not passed through to its ratepayers.
John Kowalko
April 14, 2008 at 11:18 pm
kavips
Beautiful, especially bringing in the part where Bluewater Wind expends its own resources, planning fully to eat their cost themselves, once the Power Purchase Agreement has been signed…..That is: they will bear the full cost of the advertising themselves instead of forcing any of their ratepayers to ante up that cost for them.
The full beauty of this proclomation (which should be binding) is: how can any Republican vote against wide open free enterprise? They think they own that issue. Since Delmarva is protecting their own interests, not ours, their campaign should be funded out of THEIR money. Any Republican insisting on allowing this unfair competitive advantage to continue, is simply postponing the inevitable solution When one fights any type of war, one continues until he runs out of resources…….With Delmarva being reimbursed by Delawareans and Bluewater Wind not, there is an obvious unfair advantage being given to Delmarva. They need to pay for their campaign, so that when they reach a point of no return, where continuing forward is more costly then any benefit they would otherwixe receive, they will be forced by their investors to fold their tents, accept their defeat, and move forward.
Brilliant, and now for the hard question. How soon can one find additional sponsors to get it out on the floor, so Delmarva has to answer queries from the real press (us), and the fake press (corporate entities) as to why they expect reimbursement when Bluewater Wind is getting none?
How soon?
April 15, 2008 at 5:20 am
Puzzled
How much have these hearings cost us taxpayers? How can we find out how much the lawyer was paid? Were the witnesses paid? How much? All these questions bother me. I don’t understand why all the details aren’t out in the open.
April 15, 2008 at 7:31 am
kavips
Dear Puzzled: Glad you asked. When the Legislature passed legislation to put our state government under FOIA, they exempted themselves. Yep, yep, yep…….that’s what they did.
That exemption means that if they want, you don’t get the opportunity to know anything……….Our laws might as well come out of a black box, where what goes on inside, no one knows.
We can if we wish, struggle through the budget bills long after they are passed, and find out how much money ihas been given to a committee. But even today, we are not allowed to discover just how that money is spent, A new car? A new fur coat for the Misses? A box seat at Seacrets?
It is a tragedy. It is immoral, inconsequential, and undemocratic. Freshmen members of both parties are struggling to get a bill out of committee, onto the floor that will open the processes to public inspection……They are facing their nemesis, members of their own party, masquerading as protectors of the Incumbent Party of Delaware.
These people stay in power too long because voters are unaware of what is at stake and how these long termed politicians use the rules to fleece the rest of us…………………….
You could help by getting mad and spreading the word.