[House Report 112-431]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


112th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     112-431

======================================================================



 
   AMERICAN TAXPAYER AND WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION CUSTOMER 
                         PROTECTION ACT OF 2011

                                _______
                                

 April 16, 2012.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 2915]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 
bill (H.R. 2915) to repeal the Western Area Power 
Administration borrowing authority, and for other purposes, 
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 2915 is to repeal the Western Area 
Power Administration borrowing authority.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    The American Taxpayer and Western Area Power Administration 
Customer Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 2915) repeals a provision 
of the so-called 2009 ``stimulus'' law that could force 
taxpayers to bail out up to $3.25 billion in failed federal 
government loans for questionable renewable energy ventures. In 
light of the Solyndra and Ener1 Inc.'s bankruptcies, similar 
taxpayer-funded bailouts and a troubling 2011 Department of 
Energy Inspector General Report on the program being repealed 
by this legislation, H.R. 2915 protects American taxpayers and 
prevents the federal government from picking winners and losers 
in the energy market.
    The loan program being repealed in this legislation is the 
product of a little debated, yet far-reaching provision quietly 
inserted into the conference report of the American Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act (Public Law 111-5), the so-called 
``stimulus'' spending law. The loan program allows the Western 
Area Power Administration, a federal agency within the 
Department of Energy to borrow, up to $3.25 billion from the 
U.S. Treasury for the sole purpose of investing in electricity 
transmission aimed at delivering renewable electricity 
generation to urban centers.
    While there is little doubt that more electricity 
transmission for all generation sources is generally necessary, 
there are serious policy questions whether such transmission 
lines targeted only towards renewable energies are economically 
viable. Western's borrowing authority itself seems to 
acknowledge this economic concern, specifically stating that, 
``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 explicit bail-out provision 
does not even require a company like Solyndra to declare 
bankruptcy before American taxpayers foot the bill for an 
uneconomic transmission line to nowhere.
    Critics of H.R. 2915 state that Western's borrowing 
authority is necessary to build new transmission in the West. 
On the contrary, a witness representing the nation's largest 
independent transmission company testified before the Natural 
Resources Water and Power Subcommittee in 2009 that, ``Despite 
the current and recent turmoil in the credit markets . . . 
financing new transmission is not the problem than needs to be 
overcome in order to build transmission to provide greater 
market access for renewable resources.'' Although it is clear 
from the witness's expert testimony that access to credit is 
not the problem, the H.R. 2915's opponents claim that jobs will 
be lost as a result of the bill. This argument assumes that 
these projects will not be constructed without Western's 
borrowing authority. This assertion is not only contradicted by 
the testimony cited above, but ignores the fact that if 
renewable energy projects are economically viable, then private 
investment should and will finance the project. If a renewable 
energy project is not economically viable with private sector 
financing, then the federal government should not prop up a 
transmission line at potential taxpayer liability. Given the 
provision's explicit bail-out provision and using the failed 
$535 million Solyndra loan guarantee as an example, these 
projects and their jobs would only be temporary at best and 
come at a substantial cost to the American taxpayers who are 
forced to assume a stranded debt. When taxpayers are left to 
assume such failed loans, that money comes from the same 
capital pool that would otherwise have been available to invest 
in permanent, economically viable jobs.
    To date, Western has committed funding or partial funding 
for three projects. H.R. 2915 intends to grandfather all three 
of these current commitments since they each involve contracts 
or other legal agreements signed between the federal government 
and non-federal parties. While two of these project commitments 
are relatively recent, the oldest commitment involving a $161 
million Western loan to a Canadian-based company has come under 
scrutiny from the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector 
General. In a ``Management Alert'' dated November 7, 2011, the 
Inspector General found that the agency has ``significant 
financial exposure on the project'' and that the project is 
``two years behind schedule and may be as much as $70 million 
over budget.'' The Alert indicated that the agency's ``lack of 
lending experience contributed'' to these issues and that 
``certain Western officials indicated that they encountered 
pressure from the Department (of Energy) to spend Recovery Act 
funds expeditiously.'' The Alert also noted that the agency 
``is likely to experience a gap in funding to operate the 
Program, including activities such as project selection and 
oversight.'' To date, the Committee is not aware of any 
definitive corrective measures publicly taken by the Department 
of Energy or Western to address these matters. The findings of 
the Alert are very troubling in light of potential future loan 
disbursements for projects that will dwarf Western's current 
borrowing authority projects.
    Despite ongoing problems with Western's borrowing authority 
program and the explicit bail-out provision, the Minority 
attempted to grandfather several additional potential projects 
into H.R. 2915 during Committee markup. The Majority found 
these amendments premature because many of the potential 
projects lack financial or engineering viability. For example, 
some of the projects did not have negotiated power customer 
contracts, failed to identify definitive power generation 
sources, lacked the necessary water rights or simply did not 
exist beyond a paper planning exercise. Even Western's May 17, 
2011, Quarterly Report identified specific problems with these 
projects. Out of concern that taxpayers could be at risk for 
Western's potential investment in these projects that were 
clearly premature, the Majority defeated these amendments.
    There have been misguided efforts to compare Western's 
borrowing authority to the Bonneville Power Administration's 
(BPA) longstanding borrowing authority. However, there are key 
differences. For example, Western's borrowing authority is 
solely focused on providing transmission for renewable 
generation for developers while BPA's borrowing authority can 
be used for integrating all generation sources for the benefit 
of its customers, as well as for fish and wildlife mitigation 
and conservation efforts mandated by federal law. The other 
major difference is that BPA's borrowing authority's costs are 
all borne by the agency's ratepayers, whereas Western's 
borrowing authority costs would mainly be absorbed by outside 
developers and, ultimately, the American taxpayer due to the 
loan forgiveness provision. Also, it should be noted that WAPA 
had no experience with this practice.
    In conclusion, H.R. 2915 repeals a multi-billion dollar, 
federal government-knows-best program that explicitly envisions 
taxpayer bailouts. This bill allows projects to stand on their 
own merit in the private sector and protects American taxpayers 
from failed Solyndra-like investments.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 2915 was introduced on September 14, 2011, by 
Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA). The bill was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the 
Subcommittee on Water and Power. On September 22, 2011, the 
Subcommittee on Water and Power held a hearing on the bill. On 
October 5, 2011, the Full Natural Resources Committee met to 
consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Water and Power was 
discharged by unanimous consent. Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) 
offered amendment designated .972 to the bill; the amendment 
was not adopted by a roll call vote of 16 to 27, as follows:


    Congressman Ben Lujan (D-NM) offered amendment designated 
.967 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a roll call 
vote of 16 to 27, as follows:


    Congressman Ben Lujan (D-NM) offered amendment designated 
.970 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a roll call 
vote of 16 to 27, as follows:


    Congressman Grace Napolitano (D-CA) offered amendment 
designated .969 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a 
roll call vote of 16 to 27, as follows:


    Congressman Grace Napolitano (D-CA) offered amendment 
designated .971 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a 
roll call vote of 17 to 26, as follows:


    Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) offered amendment designated 
.965 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a roll call 
vote of 17 to 26, as follows:


    Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) offered amendment 
designated .974 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a 
roll call vote of 17 to 26, as follows:


    Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) offered amendment designated 
.069 to the bill; the amendment was not adopted by a roll call 
vote of 17 to 26, as follows:


    The bill was then ordered favorably reported to the House 
of Representatives by a roll call vote of 26 to 17, as follows:


            Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                    Compliance With House Rule XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 2915--American Taxpayer and Western Area Power Administration 
        Customer Protection Act of 2011

    Summary: Under current law, the Western Area Power 
Administration (WAPA) may borrow funds from the Department of 
the Treasury to finance certain projects for transmitting 
electric power, subject to a $3.25 billion limit on the amount 
of debt outstanding at any time. Projects are eligible for WAPA 
financing if they have at least one terminus in the geographic 
areas served by the agency and transmit electricity generated 
from renewable sources. H.R. 2915 would repeal this borrowing 
authority, which was provided in the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-15).
    CBO estimates that terminating WAPA's borrowing authority 
would reduce net direct spending by about $3 billion over the 
2012-2021 period. Pay-as-you-go procedures apply because 
enacting the legislation would affect direct spending. Enacting 
this legislation would not affect revenues.
    H.R. 2915 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).
    Estimated Cost to the Federal Government: The estimated 
budgetary impact of H.R. 2915 is shown in the following table. 
The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 270 
(energy).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                           By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
                                                             -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 2012       2013       2014       2015       2016       2017       2018       2019       2020       2021    2012-2016  2012-2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                   CHANGES IN DIRECT SPENDING

Estimated Budget Authority..................................       -350     -1,150     -1,150       -150       -150        -23          0          0          0          0     -2,950     -2,973
Estimated Outlays...........................................        -20       -145       -465       -770       -715       -455       -260       -110        -25         -8     -2,115     -2,973
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Basis of estimate: Assuming that this legislation is 
enacted early in fiscal year 2012, CBO estimates that enacting 
H.R. 2915 would reduce net direct spending by about $3 billion 
over the 2012-2021 period. That estimate reflects the agency's 
estimate of the amount of borrowing authority expected to 
remain available at the time of enactment. The timing of the 
estimated savings is based on CBO's projections of WAPA 
expenditures under current law. CBO expects that most of WAPA's 
financing activities would occur after 2012 because of the long 
lead time necessary for planning and siting such projects.
    Pay-As-You-Go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 
Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement 
procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or 
revenues. The net changes in outlays that are subject to those 
pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in the following table.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                           By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
                                                             -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 2012       2013       2014       2015       2016       2017       2018       2019       2020       2021    2012-2016  2012-2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                 NET DECREASE (-) IN THE DEFICIT

Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Impact..............................        -20       -145       -465       -770       -715       -455       -260       -110        -25         -8     -2,115     -2,973
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 2915 
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as 
defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, local, or 
tribal governments.
    Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Kathleen Gramp; Impact 
on state, local, and tribal governments: Ryan Miller; Impact on 
the private sector: Vi Nguyen.
    Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required 
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget 
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase 
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. CBO estimates that 
terminating the Western Area Power Administration's borrowing 
authority would reduce net direct spending by about $3 billion 
over the 2012-2021 period.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to repeal the Western Area Power 
Administration borrowing authority.

                           Earmark Statement

    This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined 
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives.

                    Compliance With Public Law 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets and 
existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

           SECTION 301 OF THE HOOVER POWER PLANT ACT OF 1984


[SEC. 301. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION BORROWING AUTHORITY.

  [(a) Definitions.--In this section:
          [(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means 
        the Administrator of the Western Area Power 
        Administration.
          [(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
        Secretary of the Treasury.
  [(b) Authority.--
          [(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, subject to paragraphs (2) through (5)--
                  [(A) the Western Area Power Administration 
                may borrow funds from the Treasury; and
                  [(B) the Secretary shall, without further 
                appropriation and without fiscal year 
                limitation, loan to the Western Area Power 
                Administration, on such terms as may be fixed 
                by the Administrator and the Secretary, such 
                sums (not to exceed, in the aggregate 
                (including deferred interest), $3,250,000,000 
                in outstanding repayable balances at any one 
                time) as, in the judgment of the Administrator, 
                are from time to time required for the purpose 
                of--
                          [(i) constructing, financing, 
                        facilitating, planning, operating, 
                        maintaining, or studying construction 
                        of new or upgraded electric power 
                        transmission lines and related 
                        facilities with at least one terminus 
                        within the area served by the Western 
                        Area Power Administration; and
                          [(ii) delivering or facilitating the 
                        delivery of power generated by 
                        renewable energy resources constructed 
                        or reasonably expected to be 
                        constructed after the date of enactment 
                        of this section.
          [(2) Interest.--The rate of interest to be charged in 
        connection with any loan made pursuant to this 
        subsection shall be fixed by the Secretary, taking into 
        consideration market yields on outstanding marketable 
        obligations of the United States of comparable 
        maturities as of the date of the loan.
          [(3) Refinancing.--The Western Area Power 
        Administration may refinance loans taken pursuant to 
        this section within the Treasury.
          [(4) Participation.--The Administrator may permit 
        other entities to participate in the financing, 
        construction and ownership projects financed under this 
        section.
          [(5) Congressional review of disbursement.--Effective 
        upon the date of enactment of this section, the 
        Administrator shall have the authority to have utilized 
        $1,750,000,000 at any one time. If the Administrator 
        seeks to borrow funds above $1,750,000,000, the funds 
        will be disbursed unless there is enacted, within 90 
        calendar days of the first such request, a joint 
        resolution that rescinds the remainder of the balance 
        of the borrowing authority provided in this section.
  [(c) Transmission Line and Related Facility Projects.--
          [(1) In general.--For repayment purposes, each 
        transmission line and related facility project in which 
        the Western Area Power Administration participates 
        pursuant to this section shall be treated as separate 
        and distinct from--
                  [(A) each other such project; and
                  [(B) all other Western Area Power 
                Administration power and transmission 
                facilities.
          [(2) Proceeds.--The Western Area Power Administration 
        shall apply the proceeds from the use of the 
        transmission capacity from an individual project under 
        this section to the repayment of the principal and 
        interest of the loan from the Treasury attributable to 
        that project, after reserving such funds as the Western 
        Area Power Administration determines are necessary--
                  [(A) to pay for any ancillary services that 
                are provided; and
                  [(B) to meet the costs of operating and 
                maintaining the new project from which the 
                revenues are derived.
          [(3) Source of revenue.--Revenue from the use of 
        projects under this section shall be the only source of 
        revenue for--
                  [(A) repayment of the associated loan for the 
                project; and
                  [(B) payment of expenses for ancillary 
                services and operation and maintenance.
          [(4) Limitation on authority.--Nothing in this 
        section confers on the Administrator any additional 
        authority or obligation to provide ancillary services 
        to users of transmission facilities developed under 
        this section.
          [(5) Treatment of certain revenues.--Revenue from 
        ancillary services provided by existing Federal power 
        systems to users of transmission projects funded 
        pursuant to this section shall be treated as revenue to 
        the existing power system that provided the ancillary 
        services.
  [(d) Certification.--
          [(1) In general.--For each project in which the 
        Western Area Power Administration participates pursuant 
        to this section, the Administrator shall certify, prior 
        to committing funds for any such project, that--
                  [(A) the project is in the public interest;
                  [(B) the project will not adversely impact 
                system reliability or operations, or other 
                statutory obligations; and
                  [(C) it is reasonable to expect that the 
                proceeds from the project shall be adequate to 
                make repayment of the loan.
          [(2) Forgiveness of balances.--
                  [(A) In general.--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.
                  [(B) Unconstructed projects.--Funds expended 
                to study projects that are considered pursuant 
                to this section but that are not constructed 
                shall be forgiven.
                  [(C) Notification.--The Administrator shall 
                notify the Secretary of such amounts as are to 
                be forgiven under this paragraph.
  [(e) Public Processes.--
          [(1) Policies and practices.--Prior to requesting any 
        loans under this section, the Administrator shall use a 
        public process to develop practices and policies that 
        implement the authority granted by this section.
          [(2) Requests for interest.--In the course of 
        selecting potential projects to be funded under this 
        section, the Administrator shall seek Requests For 
        Interest from entities interested in identifying 
        potential projects through one or more notices 
        published in the Federal Register.]

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

    H.R. 2915, if enacted, would repeal the Western Area Power 
Administration's (Western) borrowing authority, as authorized 
by Section 402 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With 
this borrowing authority, Western can borrow funds from the 
Treasury to finance, facilitate, plan, construct, operate, 
maintain, and study the construction of new or upgraded 
transmission lines and related facilities for the delivery of 
power generated by renewable energy resources. The transmission 
line must have at least one terminus in Western's service area. 
Western created the Transmission Infrastructure Program (TIP) 
to implement the borrowing authority. Projects seeking to 
partner with Western to Utilize the borrowing authority must be 
certified through TIP. Similar borrowing authority was provided 
for the Bonneville Power Administration through the Recovery 
Act, which is not affected by this bill. The primary difference 
between that borrowing authority and Western's is that 
Western's is specifically intended to facilitate the transport 
of renewable energy to load centers.
    Western is currently utilizing its borrowing authority for 
three projects, the Montana Alberta Transmission Line (MATL), 
the Electric District No. 5 Palo Verde Hub, and the Transwest 
Express (TWE) Project. These projects are exempted in H.R. 2915 
and Western would be able to go forward with financing 
assistance at the current stage of these projects., However, 
all future stages of these projects would not be eligible to 
receive financing support from Western. Eight other projects, 
several of which have been under development for years, have 
not yet received financing and would not be eligible for 
Western financing under this bill.
    H.R. 2915 would eliminate thousands of jobs across the 
West. For example, one of the projects currently under 
development is the 725-mile TransWest Express transmission 
line, which will deliver 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy 
from Wyoming to the Desert Southwest. The project would create 
1,050 construction jobs during the three-year construction 
phase and another 1,300 more jobs from the renewable energy 
projects that would be developed along the transmission line. 
Including indirect and induced jobs, this single project is 
projected to support roughly 18,000 jobs.
    While we support this program, we also believe that its 
management could be improved. On November 7, 2011, the 
Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Energy released a 
report regarding the Western Area Power Administration's 
(Western) use of the borrowing authority for financing 
transmission lines that was enacted as part of the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. The report found that 
``Western had not implemented the necessary safeguards to 
ensure its commitment of funding was optimally protected'' when 
Western utilized its funding for the Montana Alberta 
Transmission Line (MATL), the first project funded through 
Western's borrowing authority. Western utilized $161 million in 
stimulus funds to build the MATL line. When complete, Western 
will own 18 miles of the line.
    While many of the delays in this project were the result of 
litigation and in Montana over the exercise of eminent domain 
authority to build the transmission line, the IG report also 
found that Western failed to establish a system to ``adequately 
monitor the progress of the project.'' The IG released the 
report as a ``management alert'' in order for changes to be 
made before additional funds are utilized under the borrowing 
authority. DOE has accepted the IG recommendations and has 
indicated that Western is tightening up procedures for future 
loans in response to the IG's findings. No funds borrowed from 
the United States Treasury through Western's borrowing 
authority for the MATL project or the other projects have 
defaulted. While we believe that DOE needs to ensure that 
Western is properly managing this program and that DOE is 
conducting appropriate oversight, we do not believe that this 
important program to support transmission needed for other 
expansion of renewable energy projects should be abandoned, as 
H.R. 2915 would do.
    We note that the International Brotherhood of Electrical 
Workers have issued a letter in opposition to H.R. 2915, 
stating that the repeal of Western's borrowing authority 
``counters efforts to stimulate the economy by creating jobs 
and toward improving and strengthening our nation's electric 
grid.'' The Committee also received letters in opposition to 
H.R. 2915 from the American Wind Energy Association and the 
Solar Energy Industry Association.
    During full committee mark-up of this bill on October 5, 
2011, Mr. Markey offered an amendment that specified that the 
repeal of borrowing authority would not go into effect until 
the Administrator of Western certified that doing so would not 
lead to the loss of 5,000 or more jobs. This amendment was 
defeated, with the all Republicans voting in opposition.
    Also during the full committee mark-up of this bill, Mr. 
Markey, Mr. Holt, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Grijalva, and Mr. Lujan 
offered similar amendments that would have exempted from the 
bill specific projects that have been in development for many 
months or years. The projects that would be grandfathered under 
these amendments include all phases of the TransWest Express 
project, the Sun Zia project, the South Slope Pumped Storage 
project, the Centennial West project, the Solar Express 
project, the Colorado Highlands project, and the Southline 
project. These amendments would still allow the borrowing 
authority repeal to occur, but without punitively pulling the 
rug out from under developers that had already been working on 
projects under the good faith assumption that Western financing 
would be available.
    H.R. 2915, if enacted, would hinder the economic 
development of rural western communities and inject great 
uncertainty into transmission projects and renewable energy 
projects that have been in the planning stages for many months 
or years. It would hamper the expansion, modernization, and 
improved reliability of the electric grid. In the near term, 
the bill. will destroy jobs, and in the long-term it will 
undermine the American companies and workers competing with 
China in the high-tech economic sectors of the 21st century. 
This is as high price to pay for the Majority's apparent desire 
to politicize the Solyndra bankruptcy by launching a 
generalized assault on renewable energy infrastructure 
development, and one which we do not believe warrants passage 
by the House. For these reasons, we oppose H.R. 2915.

                                   Edward J. Markey.
                                   Rush Holt.
                                   John Garamendi.
                                   Dale E. Kildee.
                                   Grace F. Napolitano.
                                   Niki Tsongas.
                                   Raul M. Grijalva.
                                   Ben R. Lujan.

                                  
