II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 704 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant program to improve 

the resiliency of the power grid to natural disasters and reduce the 

risk of wildfires caused by power lines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a grant 

program to improve the resiliency of the power grid 

to natural disasters and reduce the risk of wildfires 

caused by power lines, 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 ‘‘Disaster Safe Power 

5 Grid Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti2 ty’’ means an electric utility, including— 

3 (A) a publicly owned electric utility; 

4 (B) a municipal electric utility; 

5 (C) a cooperatively owned electric utility; 

6 (D) an investor-owned electric utility; and 

7 (E) a Federal agency or federally owned 

8 corporation that is an electric utility (as defined 

9 in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 

10 U.S.C. 796)). 

11 (2) POWER LINE.—The term ‘‘power line’’ in12 cludes a transmission line or a distribution line, as 

13 applicable. 

14 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

15 the program established under subsection (b). 

16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Energy. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 

19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es20 tablish within the Office of Electricity Delivery and En21 ergy Reliability a program under which the Secretary shall 

22 make grants to eligible entities to carry out activities 

23 that— 


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1 (1) are supplemental to existing power grid2 hardening efforts of the eligible entity planned for 

3 any given year; 

4 (2) are designed to enhance public safety; and 

5 (3)(A) reduce the risk of any power lines owned 

6 or operated by the eligible entity causing a wildfire; 

7 or 

8 (B) increase the resiliency of the power grid to 

9 withstand natural disasters, such as earthquakes, ice 

10 storms, wind storms, snow storms, heat storms, and 

11 other natural disasters. 

12 (c) APPLICATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 

14 grant under the program shall submit to the Sec15 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 

16 and containing such information as the Secretary 

17 may require. 

18 (2) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of receiving 

19 a grant under the program, an eligible entity shall 

20 submit to the Secretary as part of the application of 

21 the eligible entity under paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) a wildfire mitigation plan, if the eligi23 ble entity seeks a grant for purposes of imple24 menting a project or otherwise carrying out acVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704

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1 tivities to reduce wildfire risk, as described in 

2 subsection (b)(3)(A); or 

3 (B) a report detailing past, current, and 

4 future efforts by the eligible entity to improve 

5 the resiliency of the power grid with respect to 

6 natural disasters, if the eligible entity seeks a 

7 grant for purposes of increasing the resiliency 

8 of the power grid, as described in subsection 

9 (b)(3)(B). 

10 (d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—An eligible entity may 

11 use a grant provided under the program— 

12 (1) for the undergrounding of new and existing 

13 power lines and circuits; 

14 (2) to harden overhead power lines with fire re15 sistant or more resilient equipment, such as steel 

16 poles and covered wires; 

17 (3) to replace obsolete overhead conductors and 

18 underground cables; 

19 (4) to install fast-tripping protection systems; 

20 (5) to construct and operate 1 or more weather 

21 monitoring stations; 

22 (6) to install fault location equipment or early 

23 fault detection equipment; 

24 (7) for the relocation of power lines to road25 ways; 


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1 (8) to carry out vegetation or fuels management 

2 activities in accordance with Federal, State, and 

3 local laws (including regulations); 

4 (9) to install technology or equipment to miti5 gate hazards from or to animals and related damage 

6 to the power grid; 

7 (10) to install cameras, sensors, or other tech8 nology that provides real-time information about 

9 conditions; 

10 (11) to install technology to detect downed con11 ductors; 

12 (12) for the installation of electrical facilities 

13 necessary to sustain targeted microgrid operations, 

14 including storage for the integration of distributed 

15 energy resources into power grid operations, for the 

16 benefit of community resiliency following a main 

17 power grid outage; 

18 (13) to harden facilities, substations, and other 

19 systems for seismic events; and 

20 (14) for other, related power grid upgrades to 

21 reduce the risk of wildfire ignition or damage from 

22 natural disasters. 

23 (e) PRIORITY.—In making grants under the program, 

24 the Secretary shall give priority to projects that, in the 

25 determination of the Secretary, will generate the greatest 


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1 community benefit in improving power grid resiliency to 

2 natural disasters or reducing the risk of wildfire ignition 

3 from power lines or equipment relative to the cost of the 

4 project. 

5 (f) SET ASIDES.— 

6 (1) WILDFIRE SET ASIDE.—In making grants 

7 under the program, the Secretary shall ensure that 

8 not less than 40 percent of the total amounts made 

9 available to eligible entities under the program are 

10 made available to eligible entities that seek a grant 

11 for purposes of implementing a project or otherwise 

12 carrying out activities to reduce wildfire risk, as de13 scribed in subsection (b)(3)(A). 

14 (2) SMALL UTILITIES SET ASIDE.—In making 

15 grants under the program, the Secretary shall en16 sure that not less than 20 percent of the amounts 

17 made available to eligible entities under the program 

18 are made available to eligible entities that sell not 

19 more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity 

20 per year. 

21 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para23 graph (2), as a condition of receiving a grant under 

24 the program, an eligible entity shall provide match25 ing funds in the form of cash or an in-kind contribuVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704

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1 tion in an amount equal to not less than 100 percent 

2 of the amounts made available under the grant. 

3 (2) EXCEPTION FOR SMALL UTILITIES.—With 

4 respect to an eligible entity that sells not more than 

5 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, as 

6 a condition of receiving a grant under the program, 

7 the eligible entity shall provide matching funds in 

8 the form of cash or an in-kind contribution in an 

amount equal to not less than 1 9 ⁄3 of the amounts 

10 made available under the grant. 

11 (3) EXISTING EFFORTS.—On approval by the 

12 Secretary, amounts expended by an eligible entity on 

13 power grid resiliency or wildfire risk mitigation ef14 forts during the 1-year period ending on the date on 

15 which a grant is received under the program shall 

16 count toward the matching requirement described in 

17 paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable. 

18 (h) FEDERAL POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRA19 TIONS.—Any amounts made available to a Federal power 

20 marketing administration pursuant to a grant under the 

21 program shall be nonreimbursable. 

22 (i) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 

23 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years there24 after, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En25 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:51 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S704.IS S704

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1 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep2 resentatives a report describing the manner in which, and 

3 the extent to which— 

4 (1) the resiliency of the power grid has in5 creased under the program during the period cov6 ered by the report; and 

7 (2) the risk of wildfires caused by power lines 

8 has been reduced under the program during the pe9 riod covered by the report. 

10 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

11 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

12 out the program $10,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

13 2022 through 2031. 

Æ 


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