I 

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. 

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 ‘‘Reliable Grid Act of 

5 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELECTRIC ENERGY 

2 GENERATION. 

3 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that— 

5 (1) the Administrator should be barred from 

6 imposing new regulations that may hasten the re7 tirement of reliable power generation until the 

8 United States electric grid can reliably meet elec9 tricity demand without today’s frequent shortages in 

10 supply and in capacity safety margins; 

11 (2) NERC has already identified the threats of 

12 ‘‘insufficient dispatchable resources’’ and ‘‘low ca13 pacity reserves’’ across the United States as demand 

14 increases from electrification and EV adoption and 

15 reliable capacity is declining in favor of unreliable 

16 solar and wind capacity; 

17 (3) the major regional United States power grid 

18 operators have put the Administrator on notice that 

19 current energy and environmental policies ‘‘could 

20 well exacerbate the disturbing trend and growing 

21 risk wherein the pace of retirements of generation 

22 with attributes needed to ensure grid reliability is 

23 rapidly exceeding the commercialization of new re24 sources capable of providing those reliability at25 tributes’’; 


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1 (4) the Administrator is the primary cause of 

2 increasing electricity shortages challenges to reliable 

3 power grid operations by forcing the premature re4 tirement of reliable power generation capacity, pri5 marily from coal and natural gas, via regulations 

6 such as the proposed— 

7 (A) ‘‘New Source Performance Standards 

8 for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, 

9 Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired 

10 Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines 

11 for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing 

12 Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; 

13 and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy 

14 Rule’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 33240 (May 23, 2023)); 

15 (B) ‘‘National Emission Standards for 

16 Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired 

17 Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review 

18 of the Residual Risk and Technology Review’’ 

19 (89 Fed. Reg. 38508 (May 7, 2024)); and 

20 (C) ‘‘Supplemental Effluent Limitations 

21 Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Elec22 tric Power Generating Point Source Category’’ 

23 (89 Fed. Reg. 40198 (May 9, 2024)); 

24 (5) the public statement by the Administrator 

25 that in its ‘‘40-year history, the Clean Air Act has 


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1 not impacted power companies’ ability to keep the 

2 lights on in communities across the United States’’ 

3 is clearly false as reliable capacity is being retired 

4 due to regulatory actions that have led to major ca5 pacity inadequacies in Texas, California, and other 

6 areas across the United States and regulations con7 tinue to be a threat to the United States grid reli8 ability; 

9 (6) jeopardizing electric grid reliability via regu10 lations that have the potential to prematurely retire 

11 reliable power generation capacity immediately en12 dangers the health, human environment, and lives of 

13 everyone in the United States, which runs counter to 

14 the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency 

15 to ‘‘protect human health and the environment’’; 

16 (7) the Administrator’s desire to rapidly retire 

17 more reliable natural gas and coal power generation 

18 capacity in favor of unreliable solar and wind will ex19 acerbate the resource inadequacy beyond current 

20 alarming projections; 

21 (8) the Administrator’s desire to electrify many 

22 energy uses from cooking and heating to transpor23 tation across the United States will exacerbate the 

24 threat of capacity inadequacy and thereby reduce 

25 power grid reliability during peak demand periods; 


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1 (9) the Administrator should, in coordination 

2 with utilities and power generators, identify the elec3 tric power generation in danger of retiring pre4 maturely from existing regulations and provide waiv5 ers where possible to support reliable electricity sup6 ply by preventing premature shutdowns of power 

7 generators due to these regulations, especially given 

8 the warnings from the Commissioner Christie of the 

9 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the 

10 United States is ‘‘heading for a reliability crisis’’; 

11 (10) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis12 sion should coordinate with NERC to develop new 

13 grid reliability standards for the United States that 

14 acknowledge unreliable solar and wind power genera15 tors can perform near-zero of their capacity during 

16 peak demand and under extreme weather conditions, 

17 which has been a major source of misplanning by re18 gional grid operators who assumed a higher level of 

19 power generation from solar and wind; and 

20 (11) the Administrator should halt the imple21 mentation of regulations and rules currently in de22 velopment and refrain from proposing new rules re23 lated to the electric power sector until the Adminis24 trator can— 


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1 (A) provide sufficient evidence that these 

2 regulations and rules do not lead to further pre3 mature retirements of reliable electric gener4 ating units; and 

5 (B) provide sufficient evidence that the 

6 United States electric grid can reliably meet 

7 electricity demand without frequent shortages 

8 in supply and in capacity safety margins. 

9 (b) REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELECTRIC GENER10 ATING UNITS.—The Administrator may not enforce a rule 

11 or regulation restricting the continuous, previously-per12 mitted operation of any electric generating unit that pro13 vides dispatchable capacity unless and until all areas 

14 served by the bulk-power system are assessed to be ‘‘Nor15 mal Risk’’ by NERC pursuant to the risk report. 

16 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis18 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ19 mental Protection Agency. 

20 (2) BULK-POWER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘bulk21 power system’’ has the meaning given such term in 

22 section 215(a)(1) of the Federal Power Act (16 

23 U.S.C. 824o(a)(1)). 

24 (3) NERC.—The term ‘‘NERC’’ means the 

25 North American Electric Reliability Corporation. 


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1 (4) RISK REPORT.—The term ‘‘risk report’’ 

2 means the assessment 2023 Long-Term Reliability 

3 Assessment, published by NERC in December 2023. 

Æ 


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