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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10519 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

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.

    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 ``Reliable Grid Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELECTRIC ENERGY GENERATION.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Administrator should be barred from imposing new 
        regulations that may hasten the retirement of reliable power 
        generation until the United States electric grid can reliably 
        meet electricity demand without today's frequent shortages in 
        supply and in capacity safety margins;
            (2) NERC has already identified the threats of 
        ``insufficient dispatchable resources'' and ``low capacity 
        reserves'' across the United States as demand increases from 
        electrification and EV adoption and reliable capacity is 
        declining in favor of unreliable solar and wind capacity;
            (3) the major regional United States power grid operators 
        have put the Administrator on notice that current energy and 
        environmental policies ``could well exacerbate the disturbing 
        trend and growing risk wherein the pace of retirements of 
        generation with attributes needed to ensure grid reliability is 
        rapidly exceeding the commercialization of new resources 
        capable of providing those reliability attributes'';
            (4) the Administrator is the primary cause of increasing 
        electricity shortages challenges to reliable power grid 
        operations by forcing the premature retirement of reliable 
        power generation capacity, primarily from coal and natural gas, 
        via regulations such as the proposed--
                    (A) ``New Source Performance Standards for 
                Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and 
                Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating 
                Units; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
                From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating 
                Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule'' 
                (88 Fed. Reg. 33240 (May 23, 2023));
                    (B) ``National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air 
                Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam 
                Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and 
                Technology Review'' (89 Fed. Reg. 38508 (May 7, 2024)); 
                and
                    (C) ``Supplemental Effluent Limitations Guidelines 
                and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating 
                Point Source Category'' (89 Fed. Reg. 40198 (May 9, 
                2024));
            (5) the public statement by the Administrator that in its 
        ``40-year history, the Clean Air Act has not impacted power 
        companies' ability to keep the lights on in communities across 
        the United States'' is clearly false as reliable capacity is 
        being retired due to regulatory actions that have led to major 
        capacity inadequacies in Texas, California, and other areas 
        across the United States and regulations continue to be a 
        threat to the United States grid reliability;
            (6) jeopardizing electric grid reliability via regulations 
        that have the potential to prematurely retire reliable power 
        generation capacity immediately endangers the health, human 
        environment, and lives of everyone in the United States, which 
        runs counter to the mission of the Environmental Protection 
        Agency to ``protect human health and the environment'';
            (7) the Administrator's desire to rapidly retire more 
        reliable natural gas and coal power generation capacity in 
        favor of unreliable solar and wind will exacerbate the resource 
        inadequacy beyond current alarming projections;
            (8) the Administrator's desire to electrify many energy 
        uses from cooking and heating to transportation across the 
        United States will exacerbate the threat of capacity inadequacy 
        and thereby reduce power grid reliability during peak demand 
        periods;
            (9) the Administrator should, in coordination with 
        utilities and power generators, identify the electric power 
        generation in danger of retiring prematurely from existing 
        regulations and provide waivers where possible to support 
        reliable electricity supply by preventing premature shutdowns 
        of power generators due to these regulations, especially given 
        the warnings from the Commissioner Christie of the Federal 
        Energy Regulatory Commission that the United States is 
        ``heading for a reliability crisis'';
            (10) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should 
        coordinate with NERC to develop new grid reliability standards 
        for the United States that acknowledge unreliable solar and 
        wind power generators can perform near-zero of their capacity 
        during peak demand and under extreme weather conditions, which 
        has been a major source of misplanning by regional grid 
        operators who assumed a higher level of power generation from 
        solar and wind; and
            (11) the Administrator should halt the implementation of 
        regulations and rules currently in development and refrain from 
        proposing new rules related to the electric power sector until 
        the Administrator can--
                    (A) provide sufficient evidence that these 
                regulations and rules do not lead to further premature 
                retirements of reliable electric generating units; and
                    (B) provide sufficient evidence that the United 
                States electric grid can reliably meet electricity 
                demand without frequent shortages in supply and in 
                capacity safety margins.
    (b) Regulations Relating to Electric Generating Units.--The 
Administrator may not enforce a rule or regulation restricting the 
continuous, previously-permitted operation of any electric generating 
unit that provides dispatchable capacity unless and until all areas 
served by the bulk-power system are assessed to be ``Normal Risk'' by 
NERC pursuant to the risk report.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Bulk-power system.--The term ``bulk-power system'' has 
        the meaning given such term in section 215(a)(1) of the Federal 
        Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o(a)(1)).
            (3) NERC.--The term ``NERC'' means the North American 
        Electric Reliability Corporation.
            (4) Risk report.--The term ``risk report'' means the 
        assessment 2023 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, published by 
        NERC in December 2023.
                                 <all>
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