Request for additional written comments on issues raised by the January 13-14, 1999 meeting in Washington D.C.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATTORNEYS GENERAL
750 FIRST STREET NE, SUITE 100
WASHINGTON, DC 20002
(202) 326-6015
(202) 408-7014
CHRISTINE T. MILLIKEN
Executive Director
General Counsel
PRESIDENT
MIKE MOORE
Attorney General of Mississippi
PRESIDENT-ELECT
CHRISTINE 0. GREGOIRE
Attorney General of Washington
VICE PRESIDENT
ANDREW KETTERER
Attorney General of Maine
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
JAMES E. DOYLE
Attorney General of Wisconsin
MEMORANDUM
Washington, D.C. – February 19, 1999 – General's (NAAG's) Energy Deregulation Working Group would like to thank the interested parties who were able to attend the recent discussion meeting in Washington D.C. The Subcommittee found all of the input instructive and very useful to our task of creating anti-deception guidelines for environmental energy marketing.
A drafting committee composed of Elliot Burg of Vermont, Ann Strickland of New Mexico, and Colin Yost of Oregon has been appointed by the Subcommittee to produce the next rendition of our guidelines. The drafting committee plans to finish its initial work in early March, and the full Subcommittee will then review and prepare new "draft" guidelines for release at a public hearing prior to the NAAG Spring Consumer Protection Conference which begins on April 25, 1999 in Washington, D.C. We anticipate the adoption of final guidelines at NAAG's summer meeting of the Attorneys General.
As we enter this next phase of our drafting process, we would appreciate additional written comments from interested parties, particularly on the following issues raising during the January meeting:
(1) What is the appropriate minimum "floor" meaning for the term "green?" One possibility might be: at a minimum, the term "green" guarantees that an energy product: (1) is renewable, (2) causes no harmful discharges, and (3) poses no other significant threat to the environment (including - or excluding - cultural resources, native peoples). Should a floor meaning operate as a requirement or a safe harbor?
(2) If biomass is generally considered to be a renewable resource, are there some types of biomass, such as municipal solid waste, which should be specifically excluded from the Subcommittee's definition of renewable as naturally replenishable and replenished on some reasonable time scale?
(3) Additional feedback is needed on the appropriate tolerance levels for error in content claims about fuel sources or pollutants ("all x," "no x," "high x," "low x" and specific percentage claims).
(4) Advertisers must not be allowed to misrepresent that power derives from a "new" source. What is the appropriate definition of "new" in the context of emerging energy markets?
(5) In the interest of preventing double-counting, what is the best way for the Subcommittee to address the use of tradable energy tags? Is it possible for energy tags to be traded across regions without creating substantiation problems, or should tag trading ideally be restricted to regions with organized region-wide trading systems?
(6) If energy product claims are based on energy tag purchases, should product sellers be required to disclose the use of energy tags? One example of disclosure language could be: "Energy source mix is based on purchase from generators of the right to claim that mix; power will not be sold twice; a portion of your dollars will go to support the energy sources in the mix."
We look forward to reading your comments on these and any other environmental energy marketing issues which may concern you. Please submit your written comments to Emily Myers, Counsel for Antitrust and Health, National Association of Attorneys General, 750 First Street, NE, Suite I 100, Washington D.C. 20002. Your comments should be submitted on paper and on a disk in any word processing format. You may also submit comments by e-mail to Ms. Myers at emyers@naag.org.
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