Heinrich, Markey, Tonko Lead Bicameral Letter Urging FERC to Strengthen and Finalize Transmission Planning Rule
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, along with U.S. Representative Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), led 134 lawmakers in sending a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) Chairman Willie Phillips urging FERC to strengthen and finalize its proposed transmission planning and cost allocation rule.
Improved and increased transmission is urgently needed for reliability, affordability, and clean electricity. The Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study anticipates that transmission capacity will need to double in many regions of the country between now and 2035 if we are to meet clean energy policy goals, even assuming only moderate overall load growth. Billions of dollars in federal clean energy investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law cannot be fully leveraged if we do not expand our nation’s transmission capacity.
In their letter to Chair Phillips, the lawmakers wrote, “In recent years, we have witnessed numerous examples of grid resilience issues, which have highlighted the inadequacy of the grid to handle changing load patterns, interconnect new clean energy resources, and respond to increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events. FERC’s final rule should ensure that transmission planners account for these factors by requiring a long-term, forward-looking, 20-year planning horizon that addresses the changing circumstances and the evolution of our energy system.”
The lawmakers continued, “In order to grow our economy, keep communities safe during extreme weather events, address historic environmental injustices, and decrease energy costs for consumers, a robust and well-planned transmission grid is essential. With a strong final rule, FERC can play a critical role in achieving these goals, fulfilling the promise of the most consequential infrastructure and climate laws in history.”
In addition to Heinrich and Markey, the letter is cosigned by 19 U.S. Senators, including Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).
In addition to Tonko, 112 members of the House of Representatives sent an identical letter to FERC. These letters build on the support of two other broad coalition letters, one led by utilities and labor which include BlueGreen Alliance and IBEW, and another led by environmental organizations which include Advanced Energy United, American Clean Power Association, Clean Air Task Force, Earthjustice, Environmental Defense Fund, Evergreen Action, Fresh Energy, Interwest Energy Alliance, League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northwest Energy Coalition, Rewiring America, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Union of Concerned Scientists, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Western Resource Advocates.
Find the letter HERE and below.
Dear Chairman Phillips:
As Members of Congress supportive of maintaining reliability during a rapid and equitable national clean energy transition, we respectfully request you to strengthen and finalize the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) pending regional transmission planning and cost allocation rule as soon as possible.
Through the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress and the Biden administration have committed to undertaking a historic energy transition to ensure access to reliable, affordable, and clean electricity for all Americans, and power long-term, sustainable economic growth. However, as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine warned in an October study, “he single greatest technological danger to a successful energy transition is the risk that the nation fails to site, modernize, and build out the electrical grid.” The need to plan for and ramp up transmission capacity is clear. The Department of Energy’s National Transmission Needs Study anticipates that transmission capacity will need to double in many regions of the country between now and 2035 if we are to meet clean energy policy goals, even assuming only moderate overall load growth.
We are grateful for the extensive work that FERC has undertaken on this proposed rule for the past two years, allowing for thorough discussion and vetting of the proposal by states, grid operators, and other stakeholder groups. FERC must now issue a final rule that fulfills the proposed rule’s promise to “remedy deficiencies in the Commission's existing regional transmission planning and cost allocation requirements.”
In recent years, we have witnessed numerous examples of grid resilience issues, which have highlighted the inadequacy of the grid to handle changing load patterns, interconnect new clean energy resources, and respond to increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events. FERC’s final rule should ensure that transmission planners account for these factors by requiring a long-term, forward-looking, 20-year planning horizon that addresses the changing circumstances and the evolution of our energy system.
Further, the final rule must require consideration of a comprehensive and specific set of transmission benefits to consumers which should be used in cost allocation processes. We support incorporating states’ input on cost allocation, along with a means of resolving disagreements and allocating costs to customers in a way that is roughly commensurate with those specified benefits.
In order to grow our economy, keep communities safe during extreme weather events, address historic environmental injustices, and decrease energy costs for consumers, a robust and well-planned transmission grid is essential. With a strong final rule, FERC can play a critical role in achieving these goals, fulfilling the promise of the most consequential infrastructure and climate laws in history.
We appreciate your consideration of this request and stand ready to work with you to help finalize a strong regional transmission and cost allocation planning rule.
