Can you believe it, boys and girls, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin traded his Senate seat for absolutely nothing. There's no way he's going to get re-elected after this disaster. He voted for way too much government spending on nonsense that did nothing for West Virginia. His backroom deal fell through. He's toast at the next election. I guess he's ready to retire. Buh-bye, Teflon Joe. At the end, something did finally stick to you. You know how being Teflon is... after it poisoned West Virginians for so many years, eventually it came to the end of the road.
So, can this be a lesson for eager Congress critters who stupidly put up legislation written by lobbyists for companies who stand to profit from it? Cut it out. Even though those lobbyists pretend they know what they're talking about, they have no flipping clue. Remember all the crap in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Joe, that you tried to use to encourage transmission across West Virginia so you could unconstitutionally tax it? Yeah, turns out none of that was constitutional at all.
Same for your late great idea to make transmission FERC jurisdictional, and order FERC to cost allocate it and allow recovery of bribes. It can't work with existing regulations. You're attempting to completely upend the current system. But what happens is that you just make agencies like FERC chase their tail uselessly so that nothing ever gets accomplished.
Case in point... FERC has been working on a Rulemaking for cybersecurity incentives since 2020. But then the "Infrastructure and Jobs Act" happened last year.
So, can this be a lesson for eager Congress critters who stupidly put up legislation written by lobbyists for companies who stand to profit from it? Cut it out. Even though those lobbyists pretend they know what they're talking about, they have no flipping clue. Remember all the crap in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Joe, that you tried to use to encourage transmission across West Virginia so you could unconstitutionally tax it? Yeah, turns out none of that was constitutional at all.
Same for your late great idea to make transmission FERC jurisdictional, and order FERC to cost allocate it and allow recovery of bribes. It can't work with existing regulations. You're attempting to completely upend the current system. But what happens is that you just make agencies like FERC chase their tail uselessly so that nothing ever gets accomplished.
Case in point... FERC has been working on a Rulemaking for cybersecurity incentives since 2020. But then the "Infrastructure and Jobs Act" happened last year.
The IJA wrote in a requirement for cybersecurity incentives along with prescriptive requirements that didn't work with FERC's existing proceeding. Last week, FERC threw the existing proceeding out and opened a new one. The new one gives utilities an opportunity to put certain cybersecurity expenses into an account that can earn a return for up to 5 years. During that time, the utility can add 2 percentage points to the return it earns on those investments. Such a deal!
Said FERC Commissioner Mark Christie:
Said FERC Commissioner Mark Christie:
“There’s a reason why these adders have come to be known as ‘FERC candy,’” Christie said. “They’re really sweet for those who get it, but not the consumers who have to pay for it.”
It seems that FERC didn't love the requirements in the IJA. I'm sure they're not going to love the stuff that happens resulting from the IRA, and they would have positively hated the pure, unadulterated poop that was in Joe Manchin's permitting reform.
There's a reason a group of destructive crows is called a congress.
There's a reason a group of destructive crows is called a congress.
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