LISTEN: The Democrats' new consensus bill would supercharge transmission

Hey, hey, everybody. This is Volts for February 14, 2024, Valentine's Day— happy Valentine's Day, everyone — "The Democrats' new consensus bill would supercharge transmission." I'm your host, David Roberts. When permitting reform came up toward the end of the last session of Congress, was a bit of a dumpster fire. Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting compromise— which would have boosted clean energy and fossil fuel projects alike— sparked intense opposition among both progressives and Republican senators and ended up dying an unceremonious death. The Democrats realized that they were not prepared for the permitting discussion last time around. So this past year, Representatives Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) set out to pull together the Dem coalition around a common set of positions.

The result is the Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act, or CETA. CETA would implement a number of changes that clean-energyreformers have long sought. It would empower the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission (FERC), to force utilities to do more and better interregional transmission planning, to take carbon into account when setting rates, to implement performance-based ratemaking, and to consider the use of grid-enhancing technologies. FERC would also have ultimate backstop permitting authority over interregional transmission lines, the way it currently does on natural gas pipelines. So far, so good. But the bill also includes several provisions meant to increase