Sample Legislation for Environmental Disclosure Requirements

Section 1. GENERAL PURPOSE
This act requires electricity providers to inform their customers about the sources of their electricity on a quarterly basis. Electricity providers must provide the percentage of electricity that comes from coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, renewables, and other sources, as well as certain environmental impacts associated with producing electricity from such resources. This information should be presented in a clear, standardized way that can be easily understood by customers.

Section 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS
The general assembly finds that requiring electricity providers to disclose environmental information to customers is in the public interest in that it will:
(1) Educate customers as to the types of fuels that they are consuming, as well as to the environmental impacts of such consumption, thereby allowing them to make more informed decisions as to their electricity providers;
(2) Improve market efficiency by giving consumers more complete information;
(3) Encourage energy conservation with the increased awareness of the origins of electricity; and
(4) Encourage the continued diversification of the energy resources used in this state as electric service providers alter their fuel mix to appeal to discerning customers.

Section 3. DEFINITIONS
As used in this Act:
(1)“Electric Service Provider” is a public or private company, including but not limited to utility companies, that provides electricity to retail customers, including electric utilities, alternative providers. [Note: Most restructuring legislation or regulation includes a state-specific term for the “load serving entity,” or LSE, which will not necessarily be a utility. All LSEs should be covered by this law.]
(2) “Class I Renewable Energy Source” is defined to mean energy derived from solar power, wind power, low-impact hydropower, hydrogen, geothermal, fuel cells fueled by hydrogen that is not derived from fossil fuels or sustainable biomass;
(3) “Class II Environmentally Preferable Resource” is defined to mean energy derived from natural gas fuel cells and landfill methane.
(4) “Biomass”: The Term ‘biomass’ means—
(A) organic material from a plant or tree that is planted for the purpose of being used to produce energy, but not including vegetation produced on Conservation Reserve Program lands if such harvest would be inconsistent with the environmental purposes of the conservation program; or
(B) nonhazardous, lignocellulosic or hemicellulosic matter, or agricultural animal waste material, that is segregated from other waste materials and that is derived from—
(i) only the following forest-related resources, provided these resources do not come from national or state forests or publicly-owned roadless areas, —
(I) slash; and
(II) brush;
(ii) an agricultural crop, crop byproduct or residue resource; but not including vegetation produced on Conservation Reserve Program lands if such harvest would be inconsistent with the environmental purposes of the conservation program;
(iii) miscellaneous waste such as landscape or right-of-way- tree trimmings; but not including—
(I) incineration of municipal solid waste;
(II) recyclable post-consumer waste paper;
(III) painted, treated, or pressurized wood;
(IV) wood contaminated with plastic or metals; or
(V) tires; and
(iv) animal waste provided that the waste comes from animal feeding operations with no more than 1,000 animal units.
(5) “Low-impact hydropower” means a facility that has been certified by the Low Impact Hydro Institute.

Section 4. FUEL MIX AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT DISCLOSURE
The <appropriate state agency or utility regulator> shall require each electric service provider to provide its customers with information regarding the fuel mix and environmental impacts of the sources of generation, including owned and purchased power, used to supply electricity to that customer. Such information shall be provided on a quarterly basis, and shall reflect the resources used during the most recent 12-month period available prior to the billing cycle. This shall be accomplished by bill insert, or as a message on the customer bill, using the electric service provider's normal billing cycle.

Fuel from both electric service provider generation and power purchased by said ESP for redistribution to retail customers shall be reported in the following categories:

(1) Class I Renewable Resource, which shall be reported in the following subcategories:
(A) Sustainable Biomass
(B) Low-impact Hydro
(C) Solar
(D) Wind
(D) Hydrogen Fuel Cell
(2) Class II Environmentally Preferable Resource, which shall be reported in the following subcategories:
(A) Geothermal
(B) Natural Gas Fuel Cell
(C) Landfill Methane
(3) Coal
(4) Natural gas
(5) Hydroelectric
(6) Nuclear
(7) Municipal Solid Waste Incineration
(8) Other. Each electric service provider shall describe each fuel source that it labels under this category.

Each electric service provider shall also provide customers with:

(1) Detailed information about air emissions, in pounds per megawatt hour, of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and any other pollutant associated with the generation of electricity from each non-renewable resource used by the electric service provider that the <appropriate state agency or utility regulator> may determine to pose an environmental or health hazard; and
(2) Such other environmental impacts that the <appropriate state agency or utility regulator> shall require, including but not limited to the long-term environmental impacts of nuclear waste, the environmental impacts of damming waterways for hydro-electric plants and the environmental impacts of coal, oil and gas extraction."

Section 5. IMPLEMENTATION
Every electric service provider:
(1) Shall provide the environmental information required by this Act in a clear, straight-forward and easy to understand manner in conformance with a format that the < appropriate state agency or utility regulator> shall specify.
(2) In writing regulations, the <appropriate state agency or utility regulator> shall ensure that the information required by this Act is provided in all electricity contracts and incorporated, to the maximum extent practicable, in all marketing and promotional information targeted to retail customers and potential retail customers.

Section 6. RULEMAKING AND ENFORCEMENT POLICY
The <appropriate state agency or utility regulator> is hereby granted the authority to establish all necessary rules and regulations to ensure the proper implementation and enforcement of the provisions of this act. Such rules and regulations shall be promulgated no later than 180 days after the date of enactment.

Section 7. EFFECTIVE DATE
This act shall take effect upon the completion of the necessary rules and regulations.