Today the CEC announced that the Department of Energy had given it verbal assurance that the October 21st deadline to spend the stimulus funds or lose them wouldn’t be enforced. This takes some of the pressure off the unfolding Energy Upgrade California saga, but for the time being the lawsuit still stands. The CEC filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in Appeals Court earlier this week. No update on that yet but will post as soon as I hear something…
**CEC Press Release**
SACRAMENTO – The Energy Commission received a nod from the Department of
Energy (DOE) to extend an October 21 deadline for encumbering federal
stimulus funds. The Energy Commission explained this new information in
a supplement filed today to the California Court of Appeal.
Concerned with the looming federal deadline to encumber the funds,
Energy Commission Chairman Karen Douglas spoke with Department of Energy
(DOE) officials and received a verbal assurance from them that they are
not contemplating any immediate action to rescind the $33 million.
“I’m extremely grateful that the Department of Energy is giving us
additional time to resolve this legal issue that is impeding our efforts
to move these federal stimulus funds forward and launch a statewide
energy efficiency program,” said Karen Douglas, Chairman, Energy
Commission. “Although DOE has indicated that they will give California
more time, we don’t know how much additional time we have. We must
resolve this situation quickly to put this money to work for California.”
On October 18, the Energy Commission filed a petition in the Court of
Appeal asking the court to throw out a temporary restraining order and
the contempt charge issued last week by a Riverside Superior Court judge
for the Western Riverside Council of Governments.
The federally mandated April 30, 2012 deadline to spend the monies
awarded under the Recovery Act cannot be modified and each passing day
increases the likelihood that all the contractor and subcontractors will
not be able to timely perform all of the tasks required under the Energy
Upgrade California contract.
The October 13 temporary restraining order issued by the judge on
Western Riverside’s behalf blocked the Energy Commission from spending
the remaining $33 million in federal stimulus funds for any purpose
including other programs. The judge also issued a possible contempt
charge for canceling a solicitation that was rendered obsolete by
changes in federal banking regulations. Western Riverside has continued
its legal actions against the Commission despite having indefinitely
suspended its own residential PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy)
program due to these federal regulatory changes.
To view the October 18 petition to the Court of Appeal:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2010_releases/2010-10-18_Petition_Filed_with_Court_of_Appeal.pdf
To view the October 20 supplement to the petition:
(If links above don’t work, please copy entire link into your web browser’s URL)
Additional News Releases:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/index.html
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pacedata.org 
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