Monday, October 01, 2007

Will the General Assembly Hold Up Wind Power?

Last week, I published the text of a letter from six legislators directing Controller General Russ Larson to not sign off on a deal between Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind until he had consulted with them. The law that established the RFP process, known as EURCSA, designated the Controller General as the General Assembly's representative in the process.
State Representative John Kowalko,
writing in an oped in the News Journal, voices his concern that some of his colleagues may seek to delay an agreement between Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind, assuming such a deal gets done:
What is the message our state will be sending to Wall Street and to companies in general if we wrest away the established authority of the Public Service Commission?
The authority was given them to promptly conclude the bid approval stage and final negotiations.
We should not allow the process to be hijacked by a handful of legislators who insist that the Controller General stop the scheduled vote in late November and hold the process
hostage to the schedule of every legislator in the General Assembly.
Does the General Assembly have the authority to veto a deal negotiated under EURCSA if the deal otherwise meets the requirements established the law? Here we find ourselves in deep waters. EURCSA, which established the RFP process, gives the state agencies power to direct Delmarva Power negotiate and implement one or more long term energy contracts:
Once one or more of the contracts have been finalized and approved by the Commission, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Controller General and the Energy Office, then DP&L shall enter into such contract(s).
Is the role of the Controller General informational, or does he have to present any agreement to the General Assembly for review? If review is required, what form would it take? Could leadership instruct him to sign off on a deal, or would an act of the General Assembly be required? What would happen if the deal were held up until the new year? Stay tuned.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I assume we can FOIA the Controller to examine what sorts of precedent is on the process between the decision-making of his office and the G.A.

I have to give Kowalko kudos for his rapid response here. He is the kind of leader we need in Dover.

4:39 PM, October 02, 2007  

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