Democratic House bill aims to overturn Trump electricity policies
Democratic Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin from California — and 120 other Democratic cosponsors — introduced a broad clean electricity bill Wednesday that would undo key Trump administration priorities, such as providing fast-track grid access for gas-fired power plants and keeping fossil-fueled power plants from retiring through “emergency” declarations.
The bill would support renewable energy by restoring clean energy tax credits that were eliminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a major tax and spending bill signed into law in July, as well as reinstating clean energy-related grants that were nixed by the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation during the Trump administration, according to a summary of the legislation.
The bill sponsors say their legislation would help keep electricity costs in check, an issue that has become a focus for politicians, policymakers and utility regulators.
“American families were promised lower energy costs,” Rep. Levin said in a press release. “Instead, this administration canceled clean energy projects that would have helped to meet rising demand, repealed the tax credits that were actually keeping costs down, and left families holding the bill. The Energy Bills Relief Act changes that equation entirely and delivers the real, comprehensive relief that families across this country deserve.”
The bill’s supporters include Richard Glick and Nora Mead Brownell, former members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as advocacy groups such as the American Clean Power Association, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Wilderness Society.
The bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Congress, but it lays the groundwork for future legislation if the House or Senate flip to the Democrats in November.
In a change from a draft version of the legislation released in September, the bill could limit grid operators’ efforts to fast-track power projects.
It restricts the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from allowing specific types of generators — such as gas-fired power plants — from jumping ahead of other projects in interconnection queues.
The bill contains measures aimed at bringing power supplies online. One of them directs FERC to give transmission owners a financial incentive for installing “advanced transmission technologies” that can increase capacity on the existing transmission system.
Other measures in the bill direct FERC to take steps to expand the transmission system, in part by setting minimum interregional transmission capacity transfer thresholds and giving the agency exclusive siting authority for national interest transmission lines, which are defined as being at least 1 GW and crossing at least two states.
The bill establishes a 30% investment tax credit for certain types of new or modified transmission lines. To be eligible, a new line must include an advanced transmission conductor of more than 100 kV, a superconducting transmission line of more than 750 MW or a superconducting transmission line collocated in the same right-of-way as another line with an aggregate capacity of 1 GW, according to the bill summary.
In a section on transmission governance reform, the bill gives the FERC chairman the authority to hire any critically needed staff.
Other provisions require FERC to reform the governance and stakeholder participation practices of regional transmission organizations and independent system operators while ordering the grid operators to establish independent transmission monitors “to facilitate the transparent, efficient, and cost-effective deployment and operation of transmission facilities,” the bill summary states.
It also directs DOE to set up a grant program for state utility commissions to hire staff to evaluate utility transmission and integrated resource plans.
On an issue that could affect wholesale power prices, which are affected by the price of natural gas, before approving a liquefied natural gas export terminal, the DOE secretary must determine that it “would not likely materially increase energy prices or energy price volatility for US consumers, contribute significantly to climate change, or create a disproportionate health or environmental burden on rural, low-income, minority, and other vulnerable communities,” the bill summary states.