JEA Managing Director and CEO Jim Dickenson warned the utility’s board of directors Tuesday about issues in Washington, D.C., that could affect the business.
Dickenson, who recently visited with the Large Public Power Council, addressed the board at its monthly meeting Downtown. That council consists of 25 of the nation’s largest locally owned and controlled not-for-profit power systems.
“What may be happening within Congress, the administration and regulatory agencies is very important to us because it can affect all of our businesses,” he said.
The council’s Government Relations Task Force updated the council members on issues facing public utilities.
One of the issues was the work of the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction or Joint Super Committee.
“We have to be very careful in watching that, because there is the threat of the elimination of the tax exemption on the issuance of municipal bonds,” said Dickenson.
“It’s very important to our business. I don’t think it will happen, but the threat is always there,” she said.
Dickenson also talked about issues with President Obama’s “American Jobs Act.”
“Within that jobs bill is a plan to take away some of the tax benefit for higher income people investing in tax exempt municipal bonds,” said Dickenson.
He also talked about a regulatory issue that could affect JEA.
“One of the EPA regulations that could affect us on coal plants is coal-ash byproduct,” said Dickenson.
“We’ve done a pretty good job of using coal-ash, which is a byproduct of the burn process, in beneficial reuse. One of the things EPA is looking at is classifying coal byproduct as hazardous waste. Not just a household waste, but a hazardous waste,” he said.”
There are four landfills in the country that can accept hazardous waste, Dickenson explained.
“If that really happened, that would shut down most of the coal plants in the country,” said Dickenson.
“The reason that is going forward, somebody explained, is because if they classify it as a hazardous waste then EPA, at a federal level, can have control over the process,” he said.
356-2466