By Michael Brooks

More than 300 energy industry professionals logged into a single video chatroom through Zoom on Wednesday to hear about the latest issues in energy law.

And — besides a half-hour delay while keynote speaker Gina McCarthy attempted to join, and other minor hiccups — the Energy Bar Association’s effort to hold its annual meeting through the internet because of the COVID-19 pandemic was a remarkable success.

In addition to McCarthy, CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council and former EPA administrator, the event featured six panels on topics including notable ongoing litigation, FERC’s proposed revisions to how it enforces the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act and landowner challenges of pipeline certificates. Discussions played out as they normally would at EBA’s conferences, usually held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown D.C., except that panelists spoke from their home offices, living rooms or kitchens. Sometimes, they forgot to unmute themselves before they began speaking.

Meanwhile, attendees commented on the discussions in the text chat sidebar, though this was often limited to remarking on speakers’ impressive libraries or their use of Zoom’s prerendered backgrounds.

The normally two-day event was compressed into one eight-hour marathon, made further compact by McCarthy’s delay and by shortening or even scrapping scheduled networking breaks, in which attendees were divided into separate, smaller chat rooms based on their sector or expertise.

The only breakdown in the meeting came during what is normally the luncheon awards presentation, in which members confirm incoming officers and board members by a ceremonial voice vote. In a physical setting, attendees need only pause between bites of their lunch to shout “aye” in response.

To replicate this experience, EBA attempted to unmute about 300 attendees simultaneously, wrongly assuming that everyone had returned from their lunch break and was paying attention. Robert Fleishman, presiding over the ceremony, was quickly drowned out as “a cacophony” — as one unknown attendee could be heard saying — flooded into the chat room: conversations, TVs, dogs barking.

Everyone was quickly muted again, and Fleishman asked if there were any “ayes.” Those that were paying attention to the proceeding unmuted themselves to respond.

“We don’t all speak with one voice clearly,” outgoing EBA President Jonathan Schneider said, laughing. “But on this election, I think we’ve got the message.”

At the end of the day, as EBA officials began breaking out the drinks to celebrate the meeting’s conclusion, many attendees voiced their appreciation, both through video and text, saying that it had brought some normalcy in a chaotic period.

Industry CEOs Laud Workers; Frustrated with Feds

After the awards ceremony, the CEOs of three major utility associations assured attendees that their members are working effectively despite the unique challenges posed by the pandemic.

Joy Ditto, Thomas Kuhn and James Matheson — the chief executives of the American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, respectively — each said that reliability has not been impacted, despite extensive social distancing measures taken by line workers and a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). And each praised these workers as “real heroes,” asking attendees to keep them in their thoughts along with other essential workers.

Kuhn noted the severe weather over the Easter weekend on the East Coast, with tornadoes in the Southeastern U.S. and an ice storm in Maine.

“We had to figure out a new way to do business with respect to the pandemic,” Kuhn said. “We had to assemble crews” but keep one person per truck. Rather than house crews in trailers sitting in parking lots, “we had to find separate rooms in separate areas so we could operate.”

“But we did a fantastic job. This sector … is used to dealing with disasters and coming together and adapting,” he said. “I think we start way, way ahead of every other industry.”

Ditto also reported that mutual aid was occurring between APPA members as well as with EEI and NRECA members. She said an outbreak of tornadoes in Tennessee in early March, just before widespread economic shutdowns began in response to the pandemic, provided an early opportunity for utilities to learn how to work together while following social distancing and hygiene guidelines. The lessons learned during this event were implemented successfully when another tornado shredded Jonesboro, Ark., later that month, she said.

“Given the panoply of issues we face on a daily basis, we still had to learn some things as we’ve gone along in response to COVID-19,” Ditto said. But “the response is occurring. The mutual aid is happening.”

“To watch the participation across the different” utilities — investor-owned, municipal and cooperatives — was heartening, Matheson said. “Mutual assistance is one of the best calling cards we got in terms of how we’re committed to keeping the lights on.”

But, all three expressed frustration over shortages of PPE and testing.

Kuhn said EEI was having calls twice daily with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy and the White House, “but we weren’t able to break through” to them. “We were essentially behind the health care industry — which was obviously appropriate, because they were on the front lines — but what it meant to us was we were not getting the PPEs and not getting the testing.”

Finally, EEI was able to get in touch with the assistant secretary for health, Adm. Brian Giroir, whom Kuhn said understood the situation. “So that’s begun to break, and it’s been terrific,” he said, adding much more will be needed in time for summer.

“This is reflective of a broader national problem, and that’s not the topic of discussion today,” Matheson said. “But, you know, we’re behind on test kits — one could argue we should have been cranking up production test kits a long time ago — so we have a shortage of nationwide kits anyway.

“And for our sector, it becomes really important when you talk about certain critical employees. If you really want to keep the power plants running and keep the right people in the control rooms, you can’t just take someone from one power plant and stick them over in another one to replace someone who got sick,” he continued. “There are unique dynamics to every control room and every power plant. So it’s really important for these key employees that we have the capacity to … be able to test them on a regular basis.

“It seems pretty straightforward, but this has been a point of, quite candidly, frustration in terms of getting appropriate access to testing kits,” he said. “I think things are moving in a better direction, but I don’t want to say this issue’s resolved. This is still a big concern for my membership.”

Ditto echoed Kuhn’s and Matheson’s frustrations, but she added that utilities are getting creative with social distancing to ensure “that the most critical workers can continue to work even without testing.”

Several public utilities, including APPA member New York Power Authority, have sequestered their workers in control rooms in 30-day shifts, she said. In other cases, APPA has provided mobile homes for workers to live in. So far, workers have been receptive to the measures, as it protects their families and the public, she said.

“But it’s not ideal,” Ditto said. “It certainly puts more risk on our system than we’d like to bear and surely that the American public would like to bear.”

Matheson said that although he is not aware of any co-ops sequestering, some have gone as far as buying laundry machines just in case.

Financial Concerns Linger

The three CEOs also expressed their worries about the future viability of their members, who have pledged not to charge late fees or disconnect customers for nonpayment — or been barred from doing so by their states’ governors. All are lobbying Congress for long-term support in the inevitable future stimulus packages passed in response to the pandemic.

In the short term, the CEOs said, the focus has been on customers, many of whom are out of work and in desperate need of cash. Kuhn said that for the CARES Act, EEI pushed for increased funding in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which ended up getting $900 million.

As publicly owned utilities, APPA and NRECA members must return any surplus funds to ratepayers.

“A number of our members have adopted a policy to accelerate the return of revenue back to consumers … to get money into people’s pockets more quickly than would have otherwise happened,” Matheson said.

But the combination of nonpayments and lack of commercial and industrial demand “creates an economic hardship across the utility sector,” he said. “As the next stimulus package moves through Congress, it’s a sector that merits some attention. … In our case, this is about keeping the lights on, and I think it’s a pretty compelling argument.”

The CEOs also echoed arguments they have made in letters to federal officials. (See Co-ops, Public Power Seek US Aid in Pandemic.)

But Matheson also said that even before the pandemic, he had been flustered by a lack of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Despite having approved cost reimbursement for storms in 2018, “FEMA has never given them the money,” Matheson said. “Those are co-ops that are holding all that expense they did for storm repair on a line of credit and are paying interest on it now. And if they were able to receive their already-approved FEMA reimbursement, that would certainly be a benefit for them” getting through the pandemic.

Ditto said APPA is considering asking for short-term “bridge loans to enable some of our members to get past this squeeze.”

A Post-pandemic Future

The CEOs were asked how they thought the energy industry would change once the U.S. gets through the pandemic and things return to normal.

Matheson said that businesses may realize it is more cost effective for their employees to work from home, at least for part of the work week.

But he and Ditto noted that the pandemic has highlighted that many of their customers still lack access to broadband internet. They both hoped that the crisis would spur federal investment in broadband infrastructure in the rural U.S.

All three CEOs agreed that, at least in the short term, investment in clean energy resources would pause.

When society does start to go back to normal, Ditto concluded, “I’m very optimistic that we can … go back to work while still ensuring that we stay healthy. I think if we just do it systematically, we’re going to be OK.”

Kuhn said that many are noticing that the air has been cleaner since they began sheltering in place. He speculated that this may accelerate electrification of the transportation sector.

NRDC’s McCarthy also mentioned the reduced emissions in her keynote speech. She said that cable news show hosts always note the substantial reduction in emissions as a result of the pandemic when she’s a guest. “They turn it over to me and seem to think I’m going to go, ‘Wow, isn’t this great?’” she said incredulously. “That’s not how I want to succeed!”

But, she said, “maybe these times are giving us a sense of the importance of science.”