[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 164 (Thursday, November 5, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 4027, THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER AND WESTERN AREA POWER 
           ADMINISTRATION FIRM POWER CUSTOMER PROTECTION ACT

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                           HON. DOC HASTINGS

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 5, 2009

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Madam Speaker, as Ranking Republican of 
the House Natural Resources Committee, I am today introducing 
legislation to protect American taxpayers and existing customers of the 
Western Area Power Administration, WAPA. It is called the ``The 
American Taxpayer and Western Area Power Administration Firm Power 
Customer Protection Act.'' I'm pleased that Tom McClintock, the Ranking 
Republican on the Water and Power Subcommittee, is joining me in 
sponsoring this bill.
  Earlier this year, the Democrat Majority passed the American Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act, which is better known as the stimulus spending 
bill. Many of the new programs in this law were never debated 
beforehand and were inserted behind closed doors without transparency 
or an opportunity for Members of Congress or the American people to 
review and scrutinize them.
  Included among these new programs was WAPA's Transmission 
Infrastructure Program's borrowing authority. This new $3.25 billion 
borrowing authority allows the WAPA Administrator to provide loans to 
develop new transmission aimed solely at integrating renewable 
energies. As some envisioned, the loans would be mainly given to 
private wind and solar developers for transmission investments. This 
new borrowing authority is quite unlike the Bonneville Power 
Administration's, BPA, longstanding borrowing authority, which can be 
used for integrating all generation sources, as well as for fish and 
wildlife mitigation and conservation efforts.
  Madam Speaker, there is another key difference between the two 
borrowing authorities and it's one that my legislation directly 
addresses: the risk of a bailout funded by American taxpayers. The 
actual WAPA statute describes it best: ``If, at the end of the useful 
life of a project, there is a remaining balance owed to the Treasury 
under this section, the balance shall be forgiven.'' This means that 
American taxpayers will foot the bill for any outstanding balances on a 
project that cannot be repaid. This would be similar to a homeowner 
defaulting on a 30 year loan and having the bank pick up the remaining 
balance, except that the taxpayer would end up paying for the bad 
investment. BPA, which proudly boasts about repaying its debts with 
interest and ahead of schedule, does not have a similar taxpayer 
bailout provision in its borrowing authority. I might also add that the 
Tennessee Valley Authority repays its debt with interest as well.
  To date, WAPA has announced one project under the borrowing 
authority: a wind transmission project owned by a Canadian company. 
Under the taxpayer bailout provision, if this project failed, then the 
American taxpayer would have to bail out a foreign company for up to 
$161 million.
  It is also important to recognize that some of WAPA's existing 
customers, who are theoretically not impacted by this program, remain 
concerned that they will now bear some costs even if they do not 
benefit due to the lack of defined rules and regulations to govern the 
borrowing authority. It's critical that the principle of 
``beneficiaries pay'' is maintained and not undermined. It is not the 
responsibility of those who may not benefit from a project, or the 
federal taxpayers, to fund such projects. Those who build and benefit 
from a project must bear its full costs.
  For these reasons, I am introducing this legislation to amend WAPA's 
borrowing authority to both add protections for existing customers and 
to eliminate the taxpayer bailout provisions. I hope for this action on 
this bill.

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