NARUC President Kavulla to Testify about Changing Role of State Utility Commissions at Congressional Hearing

For Immediate Release: July 6, 2016
Contact: Regina L. Davis, 202-898-9382, rdavis@naruc.org

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Travis Kavulla of Montana will testify today at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power’s hearing, “A Review of EPA's Regulatory Activity During the Obama Administration: Energy and Industrial Sectors.” The hearing will examine major regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 2009 affecting the energy and industrial sectors, and additional rules and initiatives the agency plans to pursue prior to the end of the Administration.

Kavulla’s testimony focused on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and its affect on state regulatory commissions. “The EPA’s Clean Power Plan represents a truly significant realignment, for better or worse, in the paradigm of how and by whom utilities should be regulated,” states his pre-filed comments.

Although NARUC’s member states have varying opinions on the Clean Power Plan, Kavulla’s pre-filed testimony reiterates the Association’s unambiguous position that “traditional regulatory oversight over utility resource planning not be eroded and that low-carbon-emitting resources receive credit in the Clean Power Plan,” which are two areas where the EPA’s regulation falls short.

Along with President Kavulla, the hearing also includes testimony from the EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Janet McCabe; David J. Porter, chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas; Lynn D. Helms, director of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources; Charles D. McConnell, executive director of the Energy and Environment Initiative, Rice University and former Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy; and Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.

A copy of the testimony is available on NARUC’s website at http://bit.ly/29w7h93. To view the webcast, visit http://energycommerce.house.gov.

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NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.

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