[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7595 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7595
To amend the Tennessee Valley Authority Act to provide for further
transparency of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 8, 2024
Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. Burchett) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Tennessee Valley Authority Act to provide for further
transparency of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 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 ``TVA Increase Rate of Participation
Act'' or the ``TVA IRP Act''.
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.
The Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 (16 U.S.C. 831k-1) is
amended by inserting after section 12a the following:
``SEC. 12B. OFFICE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.
``(a) Establishment.--There is established in the Corporation an
Office of Public Participation to engage with the public through direct
outreach and education to facilitate greater understanding of the
processes of the Authority and solicit broader participation in matters
of the Authority affecting the public.
``(b) Hiring.--Hiring authority for the Office of Public
Participation shall lay with the Board and such authority may not be
delegated to Corporation staff.
``(c) Duties.--The Office of Public Participation established under
subsection (a) shall--
``(1) act as a liaison to members of the public affected by
and interested in Corporation proceedings, by providing ongoing
process information on individual proceedings and responding to
requests for technical assistance;
``(2) coordinate with other program offices of the
Corporation to improve, or, as appropriate, make
recommendations to improve processes in a manner responsive to
public input, with the goal of ensuring processes are
inclusive, fair, and easy to navigate; and
``(3) with public participation and feedback, create and
facilitate a process not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section, for meaningful and open public
engagement in the Authority's integrated resource planning
process, including opportunities for intervention, discovery,
filed comments or testimony, and an evidentiary hearing.
``(d) Public Participation in Integrated Resource Planning
Process.--The process required under subsection (b)(3) shall include--
``(1) a public comment period that begins not later than
100 days before release of a draft of an integrated resource
plan and ends on the last day of the evidentiary hearing for
such plan; and
``(2) a requirement for a response to any request for
discovery from an intervenor not later than 15 days after such
request is submitted.''.
SEC. 3. INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN.
(a) In General.--In drafting an integrated resource plan pursuant
to section 113 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (16 U.S.C. 831m-1), the
Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority shall--
(1) oversee the process for meaningful and open public
engagement in the integrated resource planning process
established under section 12b of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Act of 1933 (as added by this Act), including presiding over
any evidentiary hearing required under such process;
(2) include in such plan--
(A) a long-term forecast of the Authority's sales
and peak demand under various reasonable scenarios;
(B) a summary of electrical transmission
investments planned by the Authority;
(C) resource portfolios developed with the purpose
of fairly evaluating the range of demand-side and
supply-side technologies and services available to meet
the Authority's service obligations; and
(D) sensitivity analysis related to fuel costs,
environmental regulations, electrification, distributed
energy resources, and other uncertainties or risks;
(3) not later than 100 days before the public release of a
draft of the plan, provide to the public the modeling
assumptions used in developing such a plan, including costs and
constraints on the model;
(4) provide in such draft plan details of how and where
public input informed the plan;
(5) evaluate whether the draft plan takes into account the
features required under section 113(b)(2) of the Energy Policy
Act of 1992 (16 U.S.C. 831m-1); and
(6) issue a decision to approve, deny, or require
modifications to such draft plan as necessary based on the
evaluation under paragraph (5) and public input provided
through the public comment period and evidentiary hearing
required under section 12b of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Act of 1933 (as added by this Act).
(b) Tennessee Valley Authority Least-Cost Planning Program.--
Section 113(b)(2)(A) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (16 U.S.C. 831m-
1) is amended by inserting ``resilience, extreme weather risk, impacts
to public health,'' after ``dispatchability''.
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