05-17-2020, 12:34 PM
Mr. Speaker,
First of all, I thank the Prime Minister for her amendment. I will say that it most assuredly moves finely to address my concern about the nuclear matter.
I have one further amendment to offer, of a somewhat technical nature, but I hope that the Prime Minister will find it to their satisfaction. I propose the following:
Amendment 2
Amend Section 8 (1) as follows:
"Any sums not withdrawn from the account by the energy producer after twenty-four months will revert to HM Treasury and ring fenced for supplemental investment into increasing energy production from renewable energy resources. The Secretary may extend or waive this time limit in the event that funds which have not been withdrawn have been committed to a project which has been delayed or blocked due to circumstances outside the control of the company."
The intent of this amendment should be clear...we want companies to invest in alternative fuel sources, but when construction is delayed because of a bad construction season or damage from a round of particularly unpleasant weather, or the project is thrown off course because of a lawsuit or an unanticipated and impossible to predict planning permission fight, I believe we need to make allowances for those withdrawals to be deferred accordingly. Obviously, my amendment does not make such deferrals automatic, but the added flexibility to permit this would, I suspect, be of great relief to companies with experience facing both troublesome weather and difficult legal sagas. The requirement is still there that the funds be allocated to a project to be eligible for the extension/waiver of the time limit, so there should be no ability to play games indefinitely extending funds, and the Secretary will still have the ability to deny unreasonable requests.
First of all, I thank the Prime Minister for her amendment. I will say that it most assuredly moves finely to address my concern about the nuclear matter.
I have one further amendment to offer, of a somewhat technical nature, but I hope that the Prime Minister will find it to their satisfaction. I propose the following:
Amendment 2
Amend Section 8 (1) as follows:
"Any sums not withdrawn from the account by the energy producer after twenty-four months will revert to HM Treasury and ring fenced for supplemental investment into increasing energy production from renewable energy resources. The Secretary may extend or waive this time limit in the event that funds which have not been withdrawn have been committed to a project which has been delayed or blocked due to circumstances outside the control of the company."
The intent of this amendment should be clear...we want companies to invest in alternative fuel sources, but when construction is delayed because of a bad construction season or damage from a round of particularly unpleasant weather, or the project is thrown off course because of a lawsuit or an unanticipated and impossible to predict planning permission fight, I believe we need to make allowances for those withdrawals to be deferred accordingly. Obviously, my amendment does not make such deferrals automatic, but the added flexibility to permit this would, I suspect, be of great relief to companies with experience facing both troublesome weather and difficult legal sagas. The requirement is still there that the funds be allocated to a project to be eligible for the extension/waiver of the time limit, so there should be no ability to play games indefinitely extending funds, and the Secretary will still have the ability to deny unreasonable requests.
