Last month, Bloomberg News revealed a leaked memorandum from the Department of Energy purporting to be part of a larger order out of DOE invoking the Federal Power Act and Defense Production Act to “save” economically endangered nuclear and coal plants on the basis of fuel security and resilience. This rumored DOE Order would keep certain nuclear and coal units running pending analyses by the national energy labs evaluating the resilience and economic integrity of the nation’s electric grid. Critics argue that this is an legally overreaching effort to bailout nuclear and coal units that are being buffeted by market forces that makes these generation units uneconomic. Defenders of potential DOE action retort that the markets are distorted by subsidies, price manipulations and regulatory interventions that preordain the failure of baseload electric units, and that the security and resilience of the nation’s electric supply is being jeopardized because of the regulatory mismanagement of resources. Our Teleforum participants will discuss possible DOE action, and what it means for the nation’s energy policy.
Featuring:
Hon. Mark W. Menezes, Under Secretary of Energy, United States Department of Energy
Stephen Moore, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Project for Economic Growth, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity
Moderator: Raymond L. Gifford, Partner, Management Committee Member, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP

Teleforum calls are open to all dues paying members of the Federalist Society. To become a member, sign up here. As a member, you should receive email announcements of upcoming Teleforum calls which contain the conference call phone number. If you are not receiving those email announcements, please contact us at 202-822-8138.