TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file a report on the April 2005 Federal Legislative Trip to Washington D.C.
DISCUSSION
From April 24 to April 26, 2005, the City Council’s Federal Legislation and Environmental Affairs Committee traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for a multitude of important issues facing the City at the federal level. The Committee had two full days of meetings designed to inform and update the City’s legislative delegation on the City’s priorities and discuss strategy and next steps with staff to key legislators in Washington. The following is a brief report on the issues the
Committee addressed.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Provisions in the House Enerqv Bill
The Committee met with a number of key stakeholders who are directly involved with the section in the Energy Bill that would significantly reduce the authority of state and local agencies to participate in decisions regarding siting and permitting of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities. This included the Legislative Director for Representative Markey (D-MA), staff in Governor Schwarzenegger’s Washington, D.C. office, the Majority Counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee,
and the Majority Counsel for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The Committee also met with the majority of the City’s legislative delegation on this issue. In each of these meetings the City expressed its grave concern regarding the
language in the House Bill and our desire to rectify that language in the Senate version to clearly preserve local authority over LNG siting.
TEA-21 Reauthorization
The Committee had an opportunity to thank many of the people who have been working diligently on the TEA-21 Reauthorization bill. The House version of that bill includes a number of significant projects for the City, and the Committee discussed each high priority project while emphasizing the necessity of retaining them in the bill that will eventually go to the President. The Committee met w...
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