NEM's 12th Annual Global Energy Forum & Membership Meeting will be held April 28 & 29, 2009. The meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites Washington D.C. - Convention Center located at 900 10th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Please register at this hotlink.

The Embassy Suites Hotel is now booked. If you have not yet made your reservations, please contact Catalina at NEM headquarters (202-333-3288) ASAP for assistance.

A number of U.S. and foreign officials have already confirmed their participation in the event. Those confirmed thus far include: Byron Dorgan, U.S. Senate; Jim DeMint, U.S. Senate; James Clyburn, U.S. House Majority Whip; U.S. Congressman Joe Barton, Ranking Member, House Energy and Commerce Committee; Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Congressman, House Energy and Commerce Committee; Gene Green, U.S. Congressman, House Energy and Commerce Committee; Lee Terry, U.S. Congressman, House Energy and Commerce Committee; H.E. John Bruton, European Commission Ambassador; H.E. Michael Wilson, Canadian Ambassador; H.E. Andrejs Pildegovics, Latvian Ambassador; Aleksei Shishayev, Russian Embassy - Head of Economic Section; Marc Spitzer, FERC Commissioner; Philip Moeller, FERC Commissioner; Garry Brown, NYPSC Chairman; James Cawley, PAPUC Chairman; Alan Schriber, Ohio PUC Chairman; Orjiakor Isiogu, MIPSC Chairman; Donna Nelson, TX PUC Commissioner, Robert Curry, NYPSC Commissioner; Stan Wise, GAPSC Commissioner; Erin O'Connell-Diaz, Illinois Commerce Commissioner; James Kendall, EIA Natural Gas Division Director; Harris McDowell, Delaware Senate; Eric Matheson, PAPUC Energy Advisor; Calvin Timmerman, MDPSC Assistant Executive Director; John Hofmeister, Citizens for Affordable Energy; and Chris Hendrix, General Manager, Competitive Energy - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.. The full text of the April Meeting Agenda is available on the NEM Website.

The House Energy subcommittee on Energy and Environment held four days of legislative hearings this week to consider Congressmen Waxman and Markey's draft of clean energy legislation entitled, "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009." Participants in the hearings included representatives from both political parties, utilities, industry, small and large consumers, and the states. Additional information can be viewed at this hotlink.

The draft would require retail electricity suppliers to meet a gradually increasing percentage of their load with electricity generated from renewable resources. The requirement would begin at 6% in 2012 and increase up to 25% in 2025. It also would allow state governors to elect to meet one fifth of the requirement with energy efficiency measures. The term "retail electric supplier" is defined to mean, "for any given year, an electric utility that sold not less than 1,000,000 megawatt hours of electric energy to electric consumers for purposes other than resale during the preceding calendar year."

The draft would also establish a global warming pollution reduction program applicable to electric utilities, oil companies, large industrial sources, and other entities. It would require these entities to have tradeable allowances representative of the tons of pollution they emitted. The amount of available allowances would be steadily reduced to ensure reduction of emissions.

The draft would charge FERC with regulating the cash market in emission allowances and offsets. Upon advise of an interagency workgroup, the President would delegate regulatory authority for the derivatives market to an appropriate agency or agencies.

The full text of the Discussion Draft is available on the NEM Website.

EPA recently increased its activity on the issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. First, they issued a proposed mandatory GHG reporting rule for large sources, including suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial greenhouse gases, engine and vehicle manufacturers, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more per year of GHG emissions. The report would collect information on carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hyrdoflourocarbons, perflourocarbons, sulfur hexaflouride, and other flourinated gases. Comments on the proposal are due June 9, 2009.

Additionally, EPA issued a proposed endangerment finding regarding GHGs. The proposed finding is that the six key GHGs (listed above) in the atmosphere "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations." Additionally, the proposed finding is that certain of these GHGs from new motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines contribute to atmospheric concentrations of these key GHGs and thereby also to the threat of climate change. These findings could lead to regulation under the Clean Air Act. Comments on the proposed finding are due sixty days after publication in the Federal Register.