I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5511 

To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate a rulemaking to reform the interregional transmission planning process, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2019 

Ms. HAALAND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to 

initiate a rulemaking to reform the interregional transmission planning process, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Interregional Trans5 mission Planning Improvement Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RULEMAKING TO INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS 

2 OF INTERREGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLAN3 NING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Energy Regu6 latory Commission shall initiate a rulemaking to con7 sider— 

8 (1) the effectiveness of existing planning proc9 esses for identifying transmission projects across re10 gions that provide economic, reliability, operational, 

11 and public policy benefits, taking into consideration 

12 the public interest, the integrity of markets, and the 

13 protection of consumers; 

14 (2) changes to the processes described in para15 graph (1) to ensure that efficient, cost-effective, and 

16 broadly beneficial transmission solutions are selected 

17 for construction, taking into consideration— 

18 (A) the public interest; 

19 (B) the integrity of markets; 

20 (C) the protection of consumers; 

21 (D) the broad range of benefits that inter22 regional transmission provides; 

23 (E) the need for single projects to secure 

24 approvals based on a comprehensive assessment 

25 of the multiple benefits provided; 


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1 (F) that projects that meet interregional 

2 benefit criteria should not be subject to subse3 quent reassessment by regional entities; 

4 (G) the importance of synchronization of 

5 planning processes in neighboring regions, such 

6 as using a joint model on a consistent timeline 

7 with a single set of needs, input assumptions, 

8 and benefit metrics; 

9 (H) that evaluation of long-term scenarios 

10 should align with the expected life of a trans11 mission asset; 

12 (I) that transmission planning authorities 

13 should allow for the identification and joint 

14 evaluation of alternatives proposed by stake15 holders; 

16 (J) that interregional planning should be 

17 done regularly and not less frequently than 

18 once every 3 years; and 

19 (K) the elimination of arbitrary project 

20 voltage, size, or cost requirements for inter21 regional solutions; and 

22 (3) cost allocation methodologies that reflect 

23 the multiple benefits provided by interregional solu24 tions. 


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1 (b) TIMING.—Not later than 18 months after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Energy Regu3 latory Commission shall promulgate a final rule to com4 plete the rulemaking initiated under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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