PURPA Redirected

In light of your prescient Frontlines column, “PURPA Redirected” (February 2008), I am curious of your insight. Is there a nexus between §571 of EISA and the demand response (DR) text in the pending FERC NOPR, RM07-19-000, “Wholesale Competition in Regions with Organized Electric Markets,” issued Feb. 22, 2008?
In your opinion, can these two efforts be tied together in a neat bow? If not, is there any straight line at all to be drawn between the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) language and this pending FERC docket?
My attention is drawn mostly to ¶¶94 to 96 of the FERC NOPR.
—Ya’akov ben Moshe Aaron, Policy Analyst
(Employer’s name withheld at letter writer’s request.)
The author responds: After a brief look at the paragraphs identified, I’d say the answer is clearly yes, although FERC invokes EISA §529 rather than 571. That’s probably because this NOPR seems to more directly address the data gathering requirement of EISA §529 than it does the action plan mandate in 571. (Of course, the former probably serves the latter.)