Coloradan Ron Binz is not suited to be FERC chairman

Senators Mark Udall & Michael Bennet introduce Ron Binz

Tuesday’s Senate confirmation hearing on Colorado’s Ron Binz to be President Barack Obama’s Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission chairman saw electromagnetic shock-waves blast from Alaska to West Virginia.

Senate committee hearings can be dry, dull and draining — perfect events for playing online poker or doodling.

Tuesday’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., was far from boring.

One lobbyist in line commented, “This is the first FERC appointee in my 30-year career which has drawn a crowd.” In fact, there were twice as many spectators as seats. A vast overflow spilled into the halls resembling a queue for a rock concert, rather than a committee meeting.

Energy transmitted over FERC-regulated pipes and wires is worth nearly $400 billion per year. Grand Junction’s Greg Walcher, in his book, “Smoking them out: The theft of the environment and how to take it back,” states that the transmission of power is the most difficult issue facing the environment today.

FERC regulates the transmission and wholesale sales of electricity in interstate commerce, along with licensing of electric production, pipelines and liquid natural gas terminals. FERC does not regulate the source, merely the transmission of electricity on the grid.

So, what is so controversial about Obama’s FERC appointee from Colorado?

Four things:

✔ The Colorado Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act

✔ The “30 percent by 2020” Colorado mandate

✔ Allegations of Binz misleading or lying to the Energy Committee’s ranking member

✔ Binz’s statement that natural gas would be a “dead end” by 2035.

Binz, the former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission under Gov. Bill Ritter, co-authored Colorado’s controversial, $1.3 billion Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act of 2010, which pitted Colorado coal producers against the natural gas industry.

The act requires Xcel Energy to retire or retrofit 900 megawatts of Front Range coal-fired power plants into facilities fueled by natural gas or other energy sources.

The act received broad bipartisan support. Former Senate Minority Leader Sen. Josh Penry, then of Grand Junction, co-sponsored the legislation. Subsequently, Penry was criticized for accepting employment with an energy consulting firm.

The “30 percent by 2020” mandate was originally co-authored by Binz in 2007. It required Colorado’s energy providers to have 20 percent of their portfolios coming from renewables by 2020. The law was amended in 2010 to increase renewables to 30 percent.

Locally, state Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Aspen, who co-sponsored the 2020 mandate and represents a district with natural gas wells and coal mines, was criticized for destroying hundreds of western Colorado jobs.

The third controversy stems from the fact Binz told Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska he had not engaged the assistance of lobbyists to secure his nomination. However, open records of White House emails revealed Binz’s nomination was being coordinated by FERC staff, a PR firm and consultants.

The defense: Binz claims he did not pay for or ask for these services.

Finally, in a statement several years ago, Binz described natural gas as being a “dead end” by 2035 without carbon capture and sequestration. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming directly asked Binz about this quote, to which he replied, “I believe the technology will be perfected by 2035.”

The “dead end” quote and beliefs about carbon capture and sequestration are likely to lump senators from coal and natural gas-producing states in the same camp, opposing Binz.

The Energy Committee has 22 members: 12 Democrats and 10 Republicans. All committee members vote. A tie vote ends the nomination. Simple majority sends the nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat is from a coal-mining state and has threatened to vote “nay.” If Manchin joins the Republicans, then the Binz nomination will fail.

Indications are that Obama suffered significant loss of political prestige from his venture into war mongering with Syria. Last week three Democrats opposed Larry Summers to be chairman of the Federal Reserve and Summers withdrew his name from consideration. And now, one Democrat — Manchin — is holding up the Binz nomination.

To understand the complexities of the controversy, one must understand the dynamics of traditional-versus-renewable energy producing states; power providers versus consuming states; and rich versus poor states.

Americans desire affordable power. However, the energy source is not always conveniently located to power plants, which are usually a long way from cities and our homes.

FERC is important because it regulates the transmission of electricity through power lines or gas through pipelines.

Binz’s history here in Colorado is one of picking winners and losers in the energy sector. FERC needs a chairman who is not gambling and playing politics at the expense of consumers who are paying higher electric rates year after year.

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Soper, Matt.  "Coloradan Ron Binz is not suited to be FERC chairman." Grand Junction Daily Sentinel 22 Sept 2013: B7 <http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/articles/coloradan-ron-binz-is-not-suited-to-be-ferc-chairm> accessed 22 Sept 2013

Courts, EPA threaten mosquito control

Delta County has verified seven live cases of West Nile. Thirty-eight states, plus the District of Columbia, have reported live cases of West Nile virus, which includes four human fatalities.

Delta, Mesa and Montrose counties have typically seen half of Colorado's recorded cases of West Nile, but their efforts to control the mosquitoes are threatened by a court ruling and EPA rules.

West Nile virus, first detected in North America in 1999, is an arthropod-borne virus spread by infected mosquitoes. The virus is a threat to human and livestock (especially equine) health and can cause febrile illness, encephalitis, or meningitis in humans.

The battle between combating West Nile infected mosquitoes and protecting their breeding grounds (stagnant puddles, muddy cattle hoof prints, or anywhere there is non-moving water and some vegetation) hinges on the passage of H.R. 935 and the definition of "navigable waters."

Under National Cotton v. EPA (6th Cir. 2009), the court held that the Environmental Protection Agency is required to issue permits for all biological and chemical pesticide applications when such applications are made "to, over, or near waters of the U.S." Jurisdiction over navigable waters, or "waters of the U.S." belongs to the federal government, rather than the states or municipalities. The National Cotton court used the Kaiser Aetna test for navigable waters to declare bodies of water smaller than lakes and rivers to constitute waters of the U.S., and thus subject to federal jurisdiction.

To comply with the court order, the EPA, under the authority of Clean Water Act of 1972, redrafted the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit process. The new set of regulations took effect on October 31, 2011. The new NPDES is required for all ground and aerial application of biological or chemical pesticide over or near waters which affect navigable waters.

The summer of 2012 was the first time mosquito spraying operations over ditches, ponds, and stagnant aquatic zones became affected by the Clean Water Act. As a result of a burdensome NPDES process and virtually unlimited statutory liability, many mosquito spraying operations came to a halt. The result was the worst outbreak in West Nile virus cases in the past decade.

Local cases of West Nile virus are due to high numbers of irrigation ditches and storage ponds, which create boroughs of stagnation perfect for mosquito breeding.

In 2011, the Town of Orchard City in Delta County, which boasts many small farms and retirees, chose to spray 0.007 lbs. of pesticide per acre to control and eliminate the growing mosquito population. The town sprayed at dusk to avoid harming honey bees and saw a 95% mosquito larva extermination rate. Orchard City went from the worst breeding spot for mosquitoes carrying West Nile to one of the safest in Colorado.

By 2012 Orchard City ceased mosquito spraying and the results were 22 confirmed cases of West Nile, including the death of an 82-year-old man. The board of trustees for the town passed a resolution calling for Congress to reduce the burdens of federal regulation created by National Cotton. An original copy was delivered to Congressman Tipton and U.S. Senators Udall and Bennet.

Historically, farmers, municipalities, and other government entities were exempt from the auspices of the Clean Water Act's permit requirement. Those exempt had to comply with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which provided the framework for regulating pesticides. In 2006, the EPA issued a final ruling that the NPDES permit would not be required around water if applying the pesticides directly to water to control pests, or applying the pesticides to control pests that are present over or near water where a portion of the pesticides will be deposited to target the pests. The National Cotton case was a challenge to the EPA's final ruling.

U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) introduced H.R. 935 which seeks to reduce the regulatory burdens and associated statutory liability of National Cotton, by amending the Clean Water Act and FIFRA to prohibit the EPA from requiring a NPDES permit for authorized FIFRA pesticides, of which mosquito spray is such a pesticide. The others include storm water discharge, and industrial treatment effluent and discharges incidental to normal vessel operations.

Keeping mosquito spraying exempt makes sense, as the health and well-being of a community is an essential obligation. Employing aerial pesticide to combat West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes is highly effective, environmentally safe, and a cost value which reflects a community's fiduciary responsibility to both public health and fiscal stewardship.

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M. Soper. 'Courts, EPA threaten mosquito control'. [opinion/letter] Delta County Independent. 28 August 2013 <http://deltacountyindependent.com/index.php/opinion/soapbox/7457-courts-epa-threaten-mosquito-control> 29 August 2013