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Western Govs Adopt ŒPolicy Road Map'
Fourteen western governors and six Canadian provincial premiers gathered August 13 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to discuss a recent report on future transmission needs in the West. Although the governors of the two most populous western states, California's Gray Davis and Washington's Gary Locke were absent from the meeting, the governors signed a memorandum of understanding on energy with the Bush Administration and adopted a broad "Policy Roadmap " resolution.
Prepared by a task force created by the governors earlier in the year the report examined transmission needs under two scenarios. The first scenario assumed load growth would be met with natural gas-fired combustion turbines sited near load centers. In the second scenario, new load would be met by a combination of coal, wind, hydro and geothermal projects. The task force found a substantial cost difference between the two scenarios. The gas scenario, with generation near load, would require a $2.1 billion investment in new transmission. The dispersed resources of the second scenario would require a larger transmission investment which "could be as high as $8 billion to $12 billion." The report acknowledged that the gas scenario would require substantial investments in new pipeline capacity, but did not attempt to estimate those costs.
The policy resolution calls for long-term power purchase contracts to reduce spot market dependence, rate reforms to send consumers more accurate price signals and streamlining of power plant permitting and other regulatory processes.
Given the large majority of fairly conservative republican governors, the resolution's aggressive emphasis on conservation and renewables is a bit of a surprise. The governors resolved to call on state public utility commissions, legislatures and tribal councils to adopt system benefit charges to ensure minimum investments in energy efficiency.
Download the governor'Energy Policy Roadmap , 22 K
Marc Sullivan