WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM), today announced its support of an Executive Order issued by the White House this week regarding the promotion of energy infrastructure and economic growth. The endorsement, made at the 22nd Annual National Energy Restructuring Conference in Washington, DC, illustrates NEM’s alignment with the recommendations made by the administration.
Regarding the executive order, titled Executive Order on Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth, Craig Goodman, President and CEO of NEM, stated, “Several of the actions contained in the Executive Order are completely in line with some of the recommendations we made to the administration, such as the development of new energy infrastructure, which we believe can help the U.S. meet the challenges of global competition.”
“This Executive Order can pave the way to allowing utilities to focus on building an infrastructure that can serve the demands of the grid in the coming years rather than compete for a commodity,” added Goodman. “Meanwhile, energy suppliers and the private sector - who are better equipped to operate in a changing and competitive landscape - can make investments to deliver a commodity to consumers.”
There are at least 7 points in the Executive Order that NEM believes would allow for fairness and competitiveness in Energy Markets, including:
- It is the policy of the United States to promote private investment in the Nation’s energy infrastructure... - “That’s what we have all been advocating for the last 20 years,” Goodman said
- Increased regulatory certainty regarding the development of new energy infrastructure - “Energy Suppliers have been looking for this as well”
- Support for American ingenuity, the free market, and capitalism. - “This is NEM’s sentiment in a nutshell. I can’t imagine anyone in this room would argue with that. The Retail Energy industry has demonstrated its ingenuity.”
- Effective stewardship of America’s natural resources; and - “When dollars go in the right place this is allowed to happen”
NEM will release a full statement in the following days highlighting the details of the endorsement as well as outlining components of the Executive Order.
“The next logical step to implement this Executive Order is for us to deliver the commodity, and for the infrastructure, instead of investing tens of millions of dollars in the commodity, to put that money back into infrastructure,” concluded Goodman. “I have to thank this administration for taking this step so quickly.”
About NEM
The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) is a national, non-profit trade association representing wholesale and retail marketers of natural gas, electricity, as well as energy and financial related products, services, information and advanced technologies throughout the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Additional information is available from NEM's Washington, DC headquarters at (202) 333-3288 or its website at www.energymarketers.com.
