Proliance has generously offered to host our Summer Executive Committee Meeting and Policy Leadership Elections on July 29 and 30, 2008, in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Please register for the meeting at this hotlink. The meeting will take place at the law offices of Krieg Devault LLP. The Draft Agenda is available at this hotlink.

NEM has a courtesy room block until July 5, 2008, at the Embassy Suites at a discounted rate of $139/night. You must make your reservations by dialing them directly at (317) 236-1923 at your earliest convenience as they will release the rooms after the July 5 date, and the costs may increase. The location of the hotel is 110 West Washington Street in downtown Indy, 3 blocks from the meeting place.

There is no charge to attend this meeting. Please help us thank John Talley, President, and Kyle Hupfer, General Counsel, of Proliance for their generosity in hosting this meeting.

The Meeting will start between 9 and 10AM on Tuesday morning, July 29th, and adjourn before noon on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. An agenda and draft leadership nominations will be circulated, and each member is requested to forward nominations for policy leadership positions as well as issues that NEM must address and prioritize for the coming year.

The Summer Executive Committee Meeting is where the Executive Committee members agree on mid course corrections on the priorities for NEM advocacy for the remainder of 2008 and members who wish to sponsor upcoming events give us an indication so we may start planning the meetings and events for the remainder of 2008 and 2009.

If you have questions or would like to help plan or co-sponsor an event for the members, please contact headquarters. The upcoming meeting should be very substantive, and your participation is encouraged and would be appreciated.

NEM is pleased to announce that Columbia Utitilies has been elected to NEM's Executive Committee. Columbia Utilities will be represented within NEM by Robert and Ronald Palmese.

Columbia Utilities is a Brooklyn, New York-based Energy Marketer. Owned by the same family for 70 years, Columbia Utilities began operations in 1938 selling Fuel Oil throughout the 5 boroughs of New York City. In the year 2000, Columbia Utilities entered the de-regulated natural gas market in New York. Following the success of their entry into Natural Gas, Columbia Utilities added the electric market to their portfolio, making them one of the few independent suppliers to sell electricity, natural gas and fuel oil in New York State.

H.R.6258 was introduced in the House with the purpose of accelerating the deployment of carbon capture and storage systems. The bill calls for the creation of a Carbon Storage Research Corporation comprised of electric distribution utilities. The Corporation would be required to collect an assessment from distribution utilities for all fossil fuel-based electricity delivered directly to retail customers, targeted to collect $1.0 billion annually. The Corporation would be authorized to collect assessments for 10 years to fund its operations, including the issuance of grants and contracts for the purpose of accelerating commercial demonstration or availability of carbon dioxide capture and storage technology. Distribution utility costs to comply with the legislation would be deemed, "necessary and reasonable costs and shall be fully and contemporaneously recoverable in all jurisdictions." The full text of H.R.6258 is available on the NEM Website.

FCC issued an amendment to its Do Not Call (DNC) registry rules that will require sellers and/or telemarketers to honor registrations on the national DNC registry indefinitely (as opposed to the previous five year registration period). FCC notes that its action is consistent with the Do Not Call Improvement Act of 2007 passed by Congress last year, which prohibits removal of numbers from the DNC registry unless the numbers are disconnected and reassigned or otherwise invalid. The full text of the Amended DNC Rule is available on the NEM Website.

FERC issued Order 712, adopting final capacity release rules, deciding to: 1) exempt capacity releases made under state-approved retail access programs from the tying prohibition and bidding requirements; 2) permanently remove the rate cap on short term capacity release transactions but retain the rate cap on long term capacity releases and primary sales of capacity by pipelines; 3) exempt capacity releases made as a part of asset management arrangements (AMAs) from the tying prohibition and bidding requirements; 4) define exempt AMAs so as to allow supply side AMAs; and 5) not apply the tying prohibition to conditions associated with gas inventory held in storage for releases of firm storage capacity. The full texts of Order 712 and NEM's Summary of Order 712 are available on the NEM Website.

FERC Staff will hold a workshop on July 8, 2008, from 9AM to 1PM on federal energy regulatory compliance, with a particular emphasis on the elements of a sound compliance program. The first panel will focus on "Designing and Developing a Compliance Program," and the second panel will focus on "Implementing and Maintaining a Compliance Program." The full text of the Second Notice of Regulatory Compliance Workshop is available on the NEM Website.