mr. hibbard, perhaps you could deal -- mr. wellinghoff said that if there was 3,000, 5,000 of megawatts of wind brought in from offshore up in new england that it could cause problems in florida but the converse could also be true, huh? what florida power and light and hopefully today the southern company is doing in florida to generate renewable electricity could cause reliability problems up in new england. how do we resolve that issue? thank you, mr. chairman. the issue -- the engineering issue that the chairman refers to is really one of the size of the transmission and the associated capacity being put onto the transmission network in the region. so, for example, if as commissioner azar was referring to you have a 765kv line and -- >> you know, can you imagine the audience right now, okay? what is that? what is that? >> if you have a really extra high voltage line -- >> what does that mean. no, what does it mean. dropping? what does that mean? >> think of it this way. >> okay. try again. >> when the transmission line inte

mr. hibbard. so that we can put this out on the table. a lot of people, when they think of the solar revolution, they think, well, we're going to bring it in from the deserts of the united states and bring it into the cities of our country. and that is true. and they also think that when we consider wind, that we're going to go out to the prairies of the united states and we're going to bring it into the cities. in order to provide the electricity. but people don't really think about the oceans as much as a source in the future of renewable electricity. and you made a reference to all of the eastern states governors from maine down to virginia, who are very concerned that their plans for bringing in wind off of the coastline or other renewable sources, might be undermined by this kind of a proposal. could you talk about that and talk about what your vision is, that is all of these governors in terms of what the long-term renewable prospects are for the east coast? >> certainly, and thank you, mr.

mr. hibbard, commissioner azar and chairman wellinghoff is mr. hibert has identified this issue that he does not want to see offshore wind intruded upon by coal coming in from ohio or somewhere else, and i believe if we do have this backstop authority we can and should build something in that would make sure that we preserve our goal of enhancing low carbon base fuels as part of what you might think of as bonus of backstop federal authority. it is there a way to do that and if you could give us your thoughts on the best way to do that. i would start with mr. hibbard, if we were to adopt the supporting what would you encourage us to do to prevent the scenario that you fear? >> let me start by saying i think the legislation as it stands contains that backstop authority. by setting a cap on carbon in setting a floor on a renewable resource development you are providing competitive markets, the signal they need to spur the development. the question you are opposing is what a that is not enough? with that some point we lukken we see for whatever reaso

mr. hibbard. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would say certainly from our perspective in the commonwealth, we completely agree with the goal of the legislation. we absolutely have to address the carvin issue and we have to address it now. what i would urge you to consider from the standpoint of transmission is to try to retain the competitive market structure that delivers benefits to the ratepayers and the designs you implement going forward. the carvin cap that provides a value of cost and additional marginal cost associated with allowance purchase for fossil generating resources and renewable portfolio floor that provides a different additional revenue to renewable resources should provide financial incentives needed to get the renewables and associated transmission belt and we want to maintain the distinction between who is responsible paying for the transmission if it is a generating facility and who is responsible if it's needed for reliability. >> commissioner azar. >> number one, define the goals we need to be on the t