Latest news with #SenateEnergyCommittee
Wall Street Journal
15 hours ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
America's Big, Beautiful Land Sale
Uncle Sam owns nearly half of the land west of the Rockies, and GOP lawmakers want to give states and businesses a tiny piece of the action. Selling a small amount of federal land would raise revenue and spur development, so why are some Republicans trying to protect the government's hoard? The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee announced a plan last week to sell public land as part of the GOP's reconciliation bill. The proposal designates about 258 million acres of land—40% of federal holdings—as potentially available for sale. It directs the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to sell up to 3.3 million acres from these designated zones. The areas up for sale would exclude land with dedicated uses such as national parks and monuments, and land previously leased for mining, energy production and other activities. The plan directs federal agencies to prioritize selling land that is near existing roads or suitable for home-building. Agencies would consult governors before auctioning land in their states, and state and local governments would have the right to make an offer before private bidders. The selloffs would put unused resources in the hands of owners who commit to invest. The available land includes areas that are sometimes used for cattle grazing, but ranchers and other users would have ample time to comment before these parcels are sold. The sales would also raise money to offset tax cuts in the rest of the bill.
E&E News
12-06-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Committee releases megabill text with land sales
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released its portion of the Republicans' megabill Wednesday, formally reinserting language on public land sales. The text would require 'the prudent sale' of certain Bureau of Land Management and forest lands, according to a summary. The land would be used for 'housing, increased timber sales, geothermal leasing, and compensation of states and localities for the cost of wind and solar projects on federal land.' Advertisement The House-passed version of the megabill didn't include a Natural Resources Committee amendment on land sales after some Republicans — mainly Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) — balked at the prospect.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio Senate committee advances energy compromise
File photo of electricity pylons. (Getty Images). With a final few tweaks, Ohio senators advanced a major piece of energy legislation. The Senate Energy Committee vote was unanimous. With both chambers in session Wednesday, it's likely lawmakers could sign off on the legislation and send it along to the governor. The most substantive change had to do with the Public Utility Commission of Ohio clock — it moved from 320 days to 360. Lawmakers are putting a ceiling on PUCO deliberations because they want rate cases to move more quickly. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX After Tuesday's hearing, state Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, connected the longer shot clock to broader changes in the ratemaking process. Utilities must come before the PUCO every three years, and they'll be able to set rates in three-year increments with annual 'true-ups' to reflect the companies' actual balance sheet. Reineke explained the longer timeline will give regulators a bit of breathing room. Before lawmakers put the bill to a vote, Ohio Consumers' Counsel Maureen Willis made a final bid to remove a provision on consumer refunds. Under the changes, bill payers could receive refunds after the Supreme Court determines a charge was unwarranted, but any payments prior to that decision would be out of reach. Willis explained her office in the middle of a case against Dayton-area AES Ohio which could yield more than $300 in refunds per customer. 'If HB 15 becomes law as written AES's half a million consumers would lose that refund opportunity that has been in the making since 2019,' she said. Ohio senators propose changes to harmonize House, Senate energy bills The final version of the bill also left out a passage subjecting more power line projects to state oversight. Willis called that omission 'disappointing.' 'No one is reviewing these projects,' she argued. 'Not the Ohio Power Siting Board, not the PUCO and not (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). Ohio consumers, your constituents, pay 100% of those costs through transmission riders.' Rebecca Mellino from the Nature Conservancy praised lawmakers for repealing a controversial coal subsidy approved as part of 2019's HB 6 but argued 'Ohio lags far behind neighboring states' when it comes to renewable energy. She suggested provisions encouraging brownfield redevelopment could offer an opportunity for renewable energy investment. The core incentive for new energy production is a reduction in tangible personal property taxes — levied on things like machinery and equipment. But while lawmakers attempt to boost energy production with a tax cut, they're also trying to find reductions in property taxes. Energy committee chairman, Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Marietta, insisted the reductions won't undermine services. 'We're not changing any taxes that are in effect right now,' he explained. 'So any taxes from power plants that are in place will stay in place as they depreciate out — this is only on new generation.' Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, argued the tax break is an important cue to companies. When lawmakers passed HB 6, he said, they subsidized coal and nuclear facilities. 'It was not just putting your thumb on the scale,' he said, 'I mean, it wreaked havoc in natural gas generation.' With the current bill, lawmakers will remove the last of those subsidies. 'So we've sort of restored capitalism in the energy generation space,' Smith argued. 'And by reducing the tangible personal property percentage, hopefully that sends a signal.' Still, there's little Ohio's legislation can do to address lawmakers' central concern about power demand outstripping supply. The 13-state power network PJM has a substantial backlog of power plants that want to connect to the grid, and large-scale consumers like data centers are pushing demand for power higher. 'That's why we focused on behind the meter generation,' Chavez said, 'so that any new industry that comes into Ohio is not adding additional strain on the existing grid.' Behind the meter generation involves building a bespoke power plant directly connected to a given business. 'PJM is aware of the concerns that are out there. They're hearing that from all 13 states,' Chavez added. 'They are on our list. We're going to go talk to them in the fall, and we're going to have some frank conversations with them to see how we can partner to get through this.' Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio senators propose changes to harmonize House, Senate energy bills
Transmission towers that carry high-voltage electricity are shown on March 8, 2025, in East China Township, Michigan. Ontario, Canada Premier Doug Ford put a 25 percent tariff on electricity that the province provides to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York beginning March 10 as a response to the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on goods from Canada. (Photo by) Ohio lawmakers appear to have a deal on a wide-ranging energy bill meant to increase power production in the state. They're returning from a two-week recess with an amendment sanding off the differences between House and Senate proposals approved last month. The Senate Energy Committee meets Tuesday to introduce the changes and likely put them to vote. Both chambers will be in session the following day and could presumably vote on final passage in back-to-back sessions. The proposal offers tax breaks for companies investing in power plants and retools the ratemaking process for energy distribution companies. To further encourage new entrants, the measure reinforces barriers keeping the regulated monopolies running distribution out of the production market. From the outset, House and Senate lawmakers have worked along parallel tracks advancing similar, although not identical, versions of the same bill. Several core ideas have persisted throughout, like eliminating the coal plant rider from 2019's HB 6. Along the way, lawmakers proposed a few sideline initiatives. The House bill included a pilot for small cooperative power generation facilities; the Senate added in a program loaning schools money for renewable energy improvements. The Senate's idea survived. The House's didn't. For other provisions, the chambers offered different responses to the same question. The proposals incentivize investment with a tax break. Tangible personal property tax gets levied on the equipment used to generate electricity. The House proposed reducing the rate from about 25% to 7%. Senators meanwhile suggested eliminating it altogether for equipment brought online after 2025. The amendment goes with the 7% mark and includes provisions to discourage companies from claiming the reduced rate after making modest changes or upgrades to existing facilities. Another major element of the legislation has to do with the regulatory timeline. Critics argue Ohio's ratemaking process takes longer than most other states, so lawmakers proposed a 'shot clock' for those decisions. The House set the ceiling at 360 days, but the Senate's 320-day deadline is the one carried forward in the amendment. A last-minute change to what qualifies as a 'major' facility isn't included in the amendment. House lawmakers lowered the cut-off for electric transmission lines to put more of them under the Ohio Power Siting Board's authority. Critics argued those investments get very little oversight and offer a path for utilities to over-charge customers for the upgrades. Ohio Consumers' Counsel Maureen Willis is urging lawmakers to 'reconsider' a different provision related to consumer refunds. 'When we say 'reconsider' we mean delete it,' her written testimony states. If the state Supreme Court determines a charge was unlawful, the legislation allows consumer refunds for any of those charges collected after the court decision. Willis questioned the idea of barring refunds on charges determined to be illegal. What's more, she argued 'it may have the unintended effect of interfering with consumer refunds in pending appeals where charges have been collected 'subject to refund.'' One such case against Dayton-area AES Ohio is currently working through the appeals process. Because state regulators approved a $76 million charge — subject to refund, the Consumers' Counsel case could return more than $300 to each customer. But if the amendment's cut off is in place, those refunds would be in jeopardy. 'The current refund provisions risk perpetuating past injustices where consumers bore the cost of unlawful utility charges without remedy,' Willis wrote. Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Testimony from Babydog at Dept. of Energy hearing ‘admitted to record without objection'
(WBOY) — Babydog, Sen. Jim Justice's (R-WV) English bulldog, has been making the rounds in Washington over the past few weeks, making appearances on the Senate floor and in several committee hearings. On Thursday, during Sen. Justice's testimony in the Senate Energy Committee, he lifted Babydog to the mic to bring a message of unity and love. In a clip shared by NBC News, Babydog can be heard panting while Justice speaks on her behalf, 'This little rascal has done something that I think is really important to all of us—she humanizes us.' Justice continued, 'I didn't intend in any way to be hauling a bulldog around. No way on Earth. We never owned a bulldog before. She's not supposed to like everybody, but she does. And with that being said, how can a message be any better?' President Trump appoints WV Prison Commissioner to federal post 'She would say just this: If you're rich or poor, or a kid or an adult, or, God forbid, a Republican or a Democrat, she still loves you.' Babydog's testimony was admitted to the record 'without objection.' Babydog, who became the face of the West Virginia governor's office during Justice's tenure, has gained a national following since she appeared at the Republican National Convention last year. Her X page, which documents her travels around West Virginia and now Washington, D.C., has more than 10,000 followers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
