ALASKA POWER ASSOCIATION

ENG · Energy/Nuclear

During this lobbying period I largely contacted Alaska's congressional delegation via e-mail to convey Alaska Power Association's support for certain issues. Those issues were: Urging support for a letter asking Secretary Burgum to use existing authorities under Section 512 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) to improve utilities ability to reduce wildfire risk in and around their rights-of-way across public lands and forests Urging via letter that U.S. Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Don Snyder release of the Hydropower Safe Harbor Table as soon as practicable. Sharing APA's comments on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implementing Section 2209 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016, which establishes a process for certain critical infrastructure owners and operators to apply for Unmanned Aircraft Flight Restrictions ("UAFRs"). In short, the rule would allow eligible facilities to request FAA approval to prohibit or limit drone operations in the immediate vicinity of qualifying infrastructure. APA filed comments asking the FAA to revise its proposed drone-restriction rule so that eligibility is based on a facilitys operational importance, lack of redundancy, restoration challenges, and national security role, rather than primarily on size or customer counts, and if the FAA will not do that nationally, to create Alaska-specific criteria and lower eligibility thresholds for Alaskas critical infrastructure. APA also held a meeting in August with FERC Commissioner Lindsay See and Sen. Lisa Murkowski at our office to discuss various issues relating to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

UTI · Utilities

During this period I participated in two federal fly-in conferences. One conference was with the Northwest Public Power Association in which I participated as a representative of Alaska. We met with congressional offices from Alaska and Washington. We advocated for: H.R. 471/S.1462, the Fix our Forest Act; H.R 2492/s.349, the Fire Safe Electrical Corridors Act; supported the forestry title provisions in the Farm Bill (H.R. 7576); H.R. 4669 the FEMA Reform Act; H.R. 164 the POWER Act; H.R. 3657 the Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act; S.3518, the FLOWS Act. We also supported fully funding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the SPEED Act, H.R. 4776. All of these issues would be advantageous to Alaska's electric utilities. I organized and conducted the Alaska Power Association federal fly-in, which brought 16 of our electric utility members to D.C. We met with our congressional delegation and advocated for the same issues listed above. We also updated our congressional members on current events with Alaska's electric utilities. We also met with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to advocate for more streamlined hydropower licensing and relicensing, along with other issues; the DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing to explore how that office might assist with Alaska electric utility projects; Rural Utilities Service Assistance Administrator Christopher McLean to learn more about the available RUS programs. During this reporting period I also advocated for full funding of the LIHEAP program with Alaska's congressional delegation via e-mail, and worked with Sen. Murkowski's office on some language for her FLOWS Act legislation.

Literal federal measure citations: H.R. 471, S.1462, H.R 2492, s.349, H.R. 7576, H.R. 4669, H.R. 164, H.R. 3657, S.3518, H.R. 4776