Transmission lines leave a generating station in Texas. Photo: Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Reps. Mike Levin and Sean Casten this morning released transmission and permitting legislation — the most ambitious bill on those issues that Democrats have put out so far.
Why it matters: The Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act will become part of the current permitting debate and set the stage for talks on any future package over the next few years.
- That's especially true if Democrats succeed in winning back control of the House next year.
- [This is] the Democratic vision, the consensus vision that gets at the real problems facing clean energy," Levin told Axios.
Driving the news: CETA rolls together a huge slate of related Democratic proposals and offers to let the government directly fund transmission projects in the "national interest."
- It would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue new rules to improve siting and planning for interregional transmission.
- Under the bill, FERC would have to require transmission owners and operators to allocate costs in a way that is "roughly commensurate" with potential benefits — both for large projects and network upgrades to connect new generation to the grid.
- That's an attempt to solve one of the stickiest questions plaguing transmission development: Who should pay for power lines?
- It also includes a provision similar to the existing BIG WIRES Act, requiring transmission planning regions to be able to transfer 30 percent of peak electricity demand to their neighbors.
The bill would attempt a broader overhaul at FERC as well, with changes to ratemaking and a requirement for independent transmission monitors to analyze the performance of grid operators.
- "Most of what's in here FERC could do today," Casten told Axios. "But they have a lot of things they could do today … This is trying to move [transmission] up to the top of the stack."
Zoom in: CETA offers to cut through the conflicts over equity that have stymied transmission projects by taking up much of the Environmental Justice For All Act.
- That includes requiring analysis of greenhouse gas emissions in NEPA reviews and directing agencies to do more outreach to tribes and environmental justice communities.
- That won't sit well with Republicans. But progressives often argue that more community engagement can actually speed up environmental permits because it can help projects avoid intense opposition down the road.
- "The goal is to pass the entire package," Levin said, "and we're going to need to do that ultimately with support from a Democratic majority."
Of note: The bill would cross at least three House committee jurisdictions: Natural Resources, Transportation and Infrastructure and Energy and Commerce.
- Nat Res ranking member Raul Grijalva and T&I ranking member Rick Larsen are both original cosponsors (along with a long list of progressives and New Democrats).
- E&C ranking member Frank Pallone and the committee's staff have been "generally supportive," Casten said.
Reality check: No Senate companion has been introduced. And Republicans have shown little interest in any legislation they perceive as furthering the IRA.
- "[T]hings around here are really tough … But that being said, things can change really quickly," Levin said.
