This week the House of Representatives passed a $36.5 billion disaster relief package to fund assistance for communities devastated by hurricanes and wildfires. The package includes $16 billion to address the debt of the national flood insurance program. The bill does not include reforms of the program, though some lawmakers have argued that reforms are necessary to make the program sustainable. Any reforms of the program could greatly affect the communities in the Mississippi River Basin that are at risk of flooding.
Congress, along with other stakeholders, continued to react to the Department of Energy directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to provide for greater compensation to coal and nuclear plants. The order, which came at the end of last month, aims to compensate these plants for their provision of so-called "baseload power." This week the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing with Energy Secretary Perry. Several Democrats, and at least one Republican, said that the plan would unfairly distort energy markets. The order, depending on how FERC implemented it, could affect the economics of renewable energy at a time that numerous states in the region get an increasing percentage of their power from wind and solar.
