Monthly Archives: July 2009

Chris Hogan Discussing the Defend my Dividend campaign

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Chris Hogan | Comments Off


Lauren Blosse and I joined more than 30 representatives of the American Gas Association (AGA) and the Edison Electric Institute member companies and state utility shareholder organizations at a meeting to re-launch the Defend My Dividend (DMD) campaign. The July 15 event was held in Chicago and provided an important forum for key industry advocates to coordinate the DMD message of fair and reasonable tax rates on dividend income.

In light of the President Obama’s budget and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus’ supporting legislation, the campaign recently retooled its Web site (www.DefendMyDividend.com) and refined its messaging to commend the president and chairman who have both made statements in support of maintaining and making permanent the 15 percent dividend tax rate for a vast majority of Americans and capping the rate at 20 percent for other taxpayers.



In this video clip, I have a chance to discuss the DMD campaign and other key issues with Mandy Clark, Executive Director of Utility Shareholders of Florida.

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Dan Gibson Natural gas facts in the July issue of American Gas Magazine

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


I was browsing through my July issue of American Gas Magazine and came across this statistic. Twenty years ago, 75 percent of federal lands were available for natural gas and oil leasing. Today, only 17 percent of those lands are available.

If you can’t find your copy, don’t forget that you can access the digital version of American Gas Magazine at aga.org

The July issue features Dave’s article on the AGA Vision 2020 Strategic Planning Initiative, a more in-depth article on the topic by Bruce Kauffmann (Bruce is going to do a post on this later so you all can chime in), a great safety article on the tools and strategies utilities are using to combat blowing gas situations, and more gas statistics. Enjoy.

agamag.chart01 Natural gas facts in the July issue of American Gas Magazine

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Laura Sheehan Defend your dividend

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Laura Sheehan | Comments Off


In 2003, Congress passed an important law – the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003 – that temporarily reduced the maximum tax rate on dividend income to 15 percent. Extended in 2006, the reduced tax rate is now scheduled to expire on December 31, 2010. One of the original goals of the 2003 law was to jump-start the economy and generate investment in the stock of American companies.

Realizing the important role the dividend tax rate reduction played in creating economic growth, the 2006 extension pushed the expiration date from 2008 to 2010. Now, in an increasingly uncertain economy, Congress will soon debate whether to let the dividend tax rate reduction expire. If it does, we could see the tax rate on dividend income jump overnight to an astonishing 39.6 percent.

Recently the Defend My Dividend coalition, a national grassroots advocacy campaign that supports making low tax rates permanent, commended proposals by President Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) to make permanent the current capital gains and dividend tax rates for the majority of Americans while capping the rate at 20 percent for higher-income families.  Chairman Baucus recently introduced legislation that mirrors the capital gains and dividend policies in President Obama’s FY2010 budget.

This issue is important because the lower dividend tax rate helps attract much-needed capital for the energy sector at a time when utilities are making major investments in power generation and delivery facilities. Since our economy relies on affordable, reliable energy, we need to help ensure investment in our energy infrastructure by capping the maximum tax rate on dividends.

If you are one of the more than 50 percent of households who own stock in electric and gas utilities, we urge you to visit the campaign web site, www.DefendMyDividend.org, and become a part of the effort to extend or make permanent today’s reasonable tax rate on dividends.

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Laura Sheehan Should Uncle Sam Turn Down Our Lights?

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Laura Sheehan | Comments Off


nationaljournalblog2 Should Uncle Sam Turn Down Our Lights? Recently Dave Parker participated in the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Experts blog to respond to their question, “Should Uncle Sam Turn Down Our Lights?” Please take a moment to read his response posted below and visit the National Journal Energy Experts blog to view the comments from others in this respected group.

While the American Gas Association (AGA) supports a portfolio of federal energy efficiency measures, including market-based incentives, voluntary programs, and minimum efficiency codes and standards, we strongly believe that any energy or climate change legislation must recognize the leading role U.S. natural gas customers have already played in improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home and at work.  In fact, by using energy wisely and making smart choices every day, our members’ customers have reduced their per-household consumption so dramatically that there has been virtually no growth in emissions in nearly three decades, despite a 70 percent increase in households using natural gas.

With this in mind, AGA supports climate change and energy policies that focus on reducing energy consistent with the recent recommendations of a study published by the National Academies (NA). That study recommended using a full-fuel-cycle measurement when determining an end-use product’s overall energy efficiency.  This full-fuel-cycle measurement takes into account the amount of energy produced and lost from the point of production to the final point of use, which is far more accurate and would provide consumers with more complete information on energy use and environmental impacts.  For example, in producing, generating and transmitting electricity from its point of origin to the electric outlet in a customer’s home or business, 70 percent of the useable energy is lost.  By contrast, producing and delivering natural gas directly from its point of origin to the customer’s burner tip loses only about 10 percent of its usable energy.

The NA study also supports the “carbon footprint labeling” provisions championed by AGA that were recently included in the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation.  These provisions would expand the existing Federal Trade Commission EnergyGuide labeling program for appliances to include carbon footprint information.

AGA will continue to inform lawmakers about the benefits of natural gas and the energy efficiency and environmental advantages of incorporating the full-fuel-cycle measurement into any climate change energy legislation. As these critical issues are addressed in the next few weeks, we are committed to being involved in the debate on behalf of our members’ natural gas customers.

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