POWER ON Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1514 To amend the Federal Power Act to increase transmission capacity for clean energy, reduce congestion, and increase grid resilience. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 2, 2021 Mr. PETERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Federal Power Act to increase transmission capacity for clean energy, reduce congestion, and increase grid resilience. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prevent Outages With 4 Energy Resilient Options Nationwide Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘POWER ON Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL POWER ACT. 7 (a) DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL INTEREST ELEC- 8 TRIC TRANSMISSION CORRIDORS.—Section 216(a) of the 9 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(a)) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:00 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1514.IH H1514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1514 IH (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘capacity 1 constraints and’’ before ‘‘congestion’’; 2 (2) in paragraph (2)— 3 (A) by inserting ‘‘, not less often than once 4 every 3 years,’’ after ‘‘Secretary shall’’; 5 (B) by inserting ‘‘and Indian tribes’’ after 6 ‘‘affected States’’; 7 (C) by inserting ‘‘or other information 8 about electric transmission capacity constraints 9 or congestion’’ after ‘‘the study’’; and 10 (D) by inserting ‘‘, or that is expected to 11 experience such constraints or congestion,’’ 12 after ‘‘consumers’’; 13 (3) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, not less 14 often than once every 3 years,’’ after ‘‘Secretary 15 shall’’; and 16 (4) in paragraph (4)— 17 (A) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or 18 energy security’’ after ‘‘independence’’; 19 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 21 (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘se- 22 curity.’’ and inserting ‘‘security;’’; and 23 (D) by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘(F) the designation would— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:00 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1514.IH H1514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1514 IH ‘‘(i) enhance the ability of facilities that 1 generate or transmit renewable energy, low- 2 emission energy, or emission-free energy to con- 3 nect to the electric grid; 4 ‘‘(ii) promote electrification of other sec- 5 tors, including the transportation sector; or 6 ‘‘(iii) facilitate other public policies to 7 decarbonize the grid; 8 ‘‘(G) the designation— 9 ‘‘(i) maximizes existing rights-of-way, in- 10 cluding along highways, brownfields, and rail- 11 ways; and 12 ‘‘(ii) avoids, to the maximum extent prac- 13 ticable, sensitive environmental areas and cul- 14 tural heritage sites; and 15 ‘‘(H) the designation would result in a reduc- 16 tion in the cost to purchase electric energy for con- 17 sumers.’’. 18 (b) CONSTRUCTION PERMIT.—Section 216(b) of the 19 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(b)) is amended— 20 (1) in paragraph (1)— 21 (A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by inserting 22 ‘‘or interregional benefits’’ after ‘‘interstate 23 benefits’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:00 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1514.IH H1514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1514 IH (B) by amending subparagraph (C) to read 1 as follows: 2 ‘‘(C) a State commission or other entity that 3 has authority to approve the siting of the facilities 4 has— 5 ‘‘(i) not approved or denied an application 6 seeking approval pursuant to applicable law by 7 the date that is 1 year after the filing of the 8 application or 1 year after the designation of 9 the relevant national interest electric trans- 10 mission corridor, whichever is later; 11 ‘‘(ii) conditioned its approval in such a 12 manner that the proposed construction or modi- 13 fication will not significantly reduce trans- 14 mission congestion in interstate commerce or is 15 not economically feasible; or 16 ‘‘(iii) denied an application seeking ap- 17 proval pursuant to applicable law;’’. 18 (c) RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—Section 216(e)(1) of the Fed- 19 eral Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(e)(1)) is amended by in- 20 serting ‘‘and the permit holder has made good faith efforts 21 to engage landowners and other stakeholders early,’’ after 22 ‘‘facilities,’’. 23 (d) INTERSTATE COMPACTS.—Section 216(i) of the 24 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:00 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1514.IH H1514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1514 IH (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘may’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘shall’’; and 2 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘the members 3 of the compact are in disagreement and the Sec- 4 retary makes, after notice and an opportunity for a 5 hearing, the finding described in subsection 6 (b)(1)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary finds that 7 the members of the compact are in disagreement 8 after the date that is 1 year after the filing of an 9 application for the facility or 1 year after the des- 10 ignation of the relevant national interest electric 11 transmission corridor, whichever is later’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:00 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1514.IH H1514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS