[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10519 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10519
To strengthen the reliability of the United States power grids by
preventing the premature retirement of essential electric generating
units by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 19, 2024
Mr. Burlison introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To strengthen the reliability of the United States power grids by
preventing the premature retirement of essential electric generating
units by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Reliable Grid Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELECTRIC ENERGY GENERATION.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Administrator should be barred from imposing new
regulations that may hasten the retirement of reliable power
generation until the United States electric grid can reliably
meet electricity demand without today's frequent shortages in
supply and in capacity safety margins;
(2) NERC has already identified the threats of
``insufficient dispatchable resources'' and ``low capacity
reserves'' across the United States as demand increases from
electrification and EV adoption and reliable capacity is
declining in favor of unreliable solar and wind capacity;
(3) the major regional United States power grid operators
have put the Administrator on notice that current energy and
environmental policies ``could well exacerbate the disturbing
trend and growing risk wherein the pace of retirements of
generation with attributes needed to ensure grid reliability is
rapidly exceeding the commercialization of new resources
capable of providing those reliability attributes'';
(4) the Administrator is the primary cause of increasing
electricity shortages challenges to reliable power grid
operations by forcing the premature retirement of reliable
power generation capacity, primarily from coal and natural gas,
via regulations such as the proposed--
(A) ``New Source Performance Standards for
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and
Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating
Units; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating
Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule''
(88 Fed. Reg. 33240 (May 23, 2023));
(B) ``National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam
Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and
Technology Review'' (89 Fed. Reg. 38508 (May 7, 2024));
and
(C) ``Supplemental Effluent Limitations Guidelines
and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating
Point Source Category'' (89 Fed. Reg. 40198 (May 9,
2024));
(5) the public statement by the Administrator that in its
``40-year history, the Clean Air Act has not impacted power
companies' ability to keep the lights on in communities across
the United States'' is clearly false as reliable capacity is
being retired due to regulatory actions that have led to major
capacity inadequacies in Texas, California, and other areas
across the United States and regulations continue to be a
threat to the United States grid reliability;
(6) jeopardizing electric grid reliability via regulations
that have the potential to prematurely retire reliable power
generation capacity immediately endangers the health, human
environment, and lives of everyone in the United States, which
runs counter to the mission of the Environmental Protection
Agency to ``protect human health and the environment'';
(7) the Administrator's desire to rapidly retire more
reliable natural gas and coal power generation capacity in
favor of unreliable solar and wind will exacerbate the resource
inadequacy beyond current alarming projections;
(8) the Administrator's desire to electrify many energy
uses from cooking and heating to transportation across the
United States will exacerbate the threat of capacity inadequacy
and thereby reduce power grid reliability during peak demand
periods;
(9) the Administrator should, in coordination with
utilities and power generators, identify the electric power
generation in danger of retiring prematurely from existing
regulations and provide waivers where possible to support
reliable electricity supply by preventing premature shutdowns
of power generators due to these regulations, especially given
the warnings from the Commissioner Christie of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission that the United States is
``heading for a reliability crisis'';
(10) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should
coordinate with NERC to develop new grid reliability standards
for the United States that acknowledge unreliable solar and
wind power generators can perform near-zero of their capacity
during peak demand and under extreme weather conditions, which
has been a major source of misplanning by regional grid
operators who assumed a higher level of power generation from
solar and wind; and
(11) the Administrator should halt the implementation of
regulations and rules currently in development and refrain from
proposing new rules related to the electric power sector until
the Administrator can--
(A) provide sufficient evidence that these
regulations and rules do not lead to further premature
retirements of reliable electric generating units; and
(B) provide sufficient evidence that the United
States electric grid can reliably meet electricity
demand without frequent shortages in supply and in
capacity safety margins.
(b) Regulations Relating to Electric Generating Units.--The
Administrator may not enforce a rule or regulation restricting the
continuous, previously-permitted operation of any electric generating
unit that provides dispatchable capacity unless and until all areas
served by the bulk-power system are assessed to be ``Normal Risk'' by
NERC pursuant to the risk report.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) Bulk-power system.--The term ``bulk-power system'' has
the meaning given such term in section 215(a)(1) of the Federal
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o(a)(1)).
(3) NERC.--The term ``NERC'' means the North American
Electric Reliability Corporation.
(4) Risk report.--The term ``risk report'' means the
assessment 2023 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, published by
NERC in December 2023.
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