In a hearing on July 14, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee marked up and approved the 21st Century Energy Technology and Deployment Act – which would create a federally owned, not-for-profit “Green Bank,” known as the Clean Energy (News - Alert) Deployment Administration (CEDA) –while, at least for the moment, circumventing questions of how to pay for the measure, during this period of budget contention.
According to Inside EPA’s Clean Energy Report, as a result of the hearing, a joint staff amendment to the CEDA proposal removes direct spending provisions from the bill and scraps an exemption from the Federal Credit Reform Act that had drawn objections from both environmentalists and conservatives. The groups argued the exemption removed government support for projects, but the practical effect of the deletion and other changes to the bill is to drive decisions on paying for CEDA to the Senate floor.
Deletion of the language also provides a temporary work-around to concerns – largely from GOP members – on CEDA’s cost. Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that while more work needs to be done, the change “really does help us get around this cost issue.”
The 21st Century Energy Technology Deployment Act would create a new entity within the Department of Energy – the Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) – with strong financial expertise and with a specific purpose to create an attractive investment environment for the development and deployment new clean energy technologies. The function of the agency would be to provide various types of credit to support deployment of clean energy technologies, including loans, loan guarantees, and other credit enhancements as well as secondary market support to develop products such as clean energy-backed bonds that would allow less expensive lending in the private sector. The agency would also seek to accommodate riskier debt and, thus, provide a mechanism for deployment of the most innovative technologies.
CEDA would be an independent administration, like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It would be governed by a board of directors and an administrator, all of whom would be appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate. CEDA would also have a permanent Technology Advisory Council to advise on the technical aspects of new technologies and to set goals for the administration. There would be various levels of financial oversight, including audits by the Comptroller General and unfettered access to the books of CEDA by the Secretary of Energy.
The panel approved other changes to CEDA, including an amendment from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) that establishes a program for helping utilities give loans to their customers for energy efficiency improvement projects, and an amendment from Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) clarifying that CEDA can be used to support the manufacture of “advanced materials” needed for advanced energy technologies.
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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
