Well somebody - I assume it was Reid and Pelosi - has sure larded up the bill with lots of goodies for WAPA - the Western Area Power Adminstration. Of course, there are “no earmarks”. Fearless Leader said so last night...
Not only will there be a urination contest over State-vs-Federal control of the Smart Grid $ but there will be another one over standardization. NIST has failed to set meaningful standards in similar undertakings but maybe this will work. The last thing any of the for-profit companies want are interoperable standards that will promote price cutting and reduce margins.