‘White paper’ seeks to address insular areas’ energy needs

Legislation has been drafted that would create an Energy Action Plan to reduce dependency on fossil fuels in the eight U.S.-affiliated islands.

Congressional staffers have been informally circulating the draft legislation to gauge interest among the island communities.

No decisions have been made regarding the inclusion of the material in national energy legislation, said Allen Stayman, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which is developing comprehensive national energy legislation.

The five territories — the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands —and three freely associated states — Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau— have the greatest oil dependency and highest electricity costs, the white paper draft notes. The U.S. Department of Energy has been working with mainland companies to modernize the electric grid; encourage the development of renewable energy; and promote building energy efficiency to reduce energy consumption, but the insular areas have not been a part of this effort.

The white paper draft circulating says the Secretary of Energy and the Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of State, will create a team of experts to address the insular areas’ energy needs.

The team would help each island utility and government to develop an action plan. Studies would be done to assess the possibilities of reducing fossil fuel usage through energy efficiency. Educating and training the local utility companies is also a part of the draft legislation.

The team would report to Congress annually on the progress of implementing the action plan and reducing the use of fossil fuel.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. earlier asked the Public Utilities Commission to waive the law mandating it to meet renewable energy requirements until September 2010, saying the utility agency needs time to develop its financial and technical capability.

Under Public Law 15-87, CUC was required by Dec. 31, 2008, to produce 10 percent of its power using renewable sources—a goal that was not met. The percentage of renewable sources—including wind, solar, geothermal, ocean current and energy efficient—is to increase to 80 percent by the end of 2014. The law allows CUC to petition PUC for a waiver if it is unable to meet the standards in a cost-effective manner or because of unforeseen circumstances.