[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1175 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1175

    To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
 authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans to electric utilities 
to carry out projects to comply with any Federal renewable electricity 
                   standard, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 3, 2009

 Ms. Cantwell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
 authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans to electric utilities 
to carry out projects to comply with any Federal renewable electricity 
                   standard, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. LOANS FOR PROJECTS TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL RENEWABLE 
              ELECTRICITY STANDARD.

    Section 610 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 
(as added by section 2(a) of the American Renewable Electricity 
Production Act of 2009) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (k) and (l) as subsections 
        (l) and (m), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (j) the following:
    ``(k) Loans for Projects To Comply With Federal Renewable 
Electricity Standard.--
            ``(1) Purposes.--The purposes of this subsection are--
                    ``(A) to reduce the cost incurred by electric 
                utilities in complying with the requirements of this 
                section; and
                    ``(B) to minimize the impact of the requirements on 
                electricity rates for consumers.
            ``(2) Loans.--The Secretary shall make loans available to 
        electric utilities to carry out qualified projects approved by 
        the Secretary to comply with the requirements of this section.
            ``(3) Qualified projects.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A loan may be made under this 
                subsection for a project--
                            ``(i) to construct a renewable energy 
                        generation facility;
                            ``(ii) to install an energy efficiency or 
                        electricity demand reduction technology; or
                            ``(iii) to carry out any other project 
                        approved by the Secretary that the Secretary 
                        determines is consistent with the purposes of 
                        this subsection.
                    ``(B) Disapproval.--The Secretary may disapprove an 
                application for a loan for a project under this 
                subsection if the Secretary determines that--
                            ``(i) the revenues generated under the 
                        project are unlikely to be sufficient to cover 
                        the repayment obligations of the proposed loan; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) the project is not otherwise 
                        consistent with the purposes of this 
                        subsection.
            ``(4) Terms.--A loan made by the Secretary to an electric 
        utility under this subsection shall--
                    ``(A) be for a term of not to exceed 30 years; and
                    ``(B) bear an annual interest rate that is 50 basis 
                points more than the Federal funds rate established by 
                the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
            ``(5) Priority.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the debt to the Federal Government under a loan made to an 
        electric utility under this subsection shall have priority in 
        any case in which the electric utility files for bankruptcy 
        protection under title 11, United States Code.
            ``(6) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
        carry out this subsection.''.
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