I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 890 

To amend title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to establish a Federal renewable electricity standard for certain electric 

utilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 

Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts (for himself and Mr. PLATTS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 

Act of 1978 to establish a Federal renewable electricity 

standard for certain electric utilities, 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 ‘‘American Renewable 

5 Energy Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Public Utility Reg3 ulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601 and fol4 lowing) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 610. FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘affiliate’ when 

8 used in relation to a person, means another person 

9 which owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or 

10 is under common ownership or control with, such 

11 person, as determined under regulations promul12 gated by the Secretary. 

13 ‘‘(2) BIOMASS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘biomass’ 

15 means each of the following: 

16 ‘‘(i) Cellulosic (plant fiber) organic 

17 materials from a plant that is planted for 

18 the purpose of being used to produce en19 ergy. 

20 ‘‘(ii) Nonhazardous, plant or algal 

21 matter that is derived from any of the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(I) An agricultural crop, crop 

24 byproduct or residue resource. 

25 ‘‘(II) Waste such as landscape or 

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1 cluding municipal solid waste, recycla2 ble postconsumer waste paper, paint3 ed, treated, or pressurized wood, or 

4 wood contaminated with plastic or 

5 metals). 

6 ‘‘(iii) Animal waste or animal byprod7 ucts, including products of animal waste 

8 digesters. 

9 ‘‘(B) BIOMASS FROM FEDERAL LANDS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) COVERED MATERIALS.—With re11 spect to organic material removed from 

12 Federal land, the term ‘biomass’ covers 

13 only organic material from— 

14 ‘‘(I) ecological forest restoration; 

15 ‘‘(II) pre-commercial thinnings; 

16 ‘‘(III) brush; 

17 ‘‘(IV) mill residues; and 

18 ‘‘(V) slash. 

19 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN

20 LANDS.—Notwithstanding clause (i), mate21 rial or matter that would otherwise qualify 

22 as biomass are not included in the term 

23 ‘biomass’ if it is located on Federal land in 

24 the following categories: 


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1 ‘‘(I) Federal land containing old 

2 growth forest or late successional for3 est, unless the Secretary of the Inte4 rior or the Secretary of Agriculture 

5 (whichever has administrative jurisdic6 tion over such land) determines that 

7 the removal or organic material from 

8 such land is appropriate for the appli9 cable forest type and maximizes the 

10 retention of late-successional and 

11 large and old growth trees, late suc12 cessional and old growth forest struc13 ture, and late-successional and old 

14 growth forest composition. 

15 ‘‘(II) Federal land on which the 

16 removal of vegetation is prohibited, in17 cluding components of the National 

18 Wilderness Preservation System. 

19 ‘‘(III) Wilderness Study Areas. 

20 ‘‘(IV) Inventoried Roadless 

21 Areas. 

22 ‘‘(V) Units of the National Land23 scape Conservation System. 

24 ‘‘(VI) National Monuments. 


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1 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTED GENERATION FACILITY.— 

2 The term ‘distributed generation facility’ means a 

3 facility that— 

4 ‘‘(A) generates renewable electricity other 

5 than by means of combustion; 

6 ‘‘(B) primarily serves 1 or more electricity 

7 consumers at or near the facility site; and 

8 ‘‘(C) is no larger than 2 megawatts in ca9 pacity. 

10 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE PAY11 MENT.—The term ‘Federal alternative compliance 

12 payment’ means a payment, to be submitted in lieu 

13 of 1 Federal renewable electricity credit, pursuant to 

14 subsection (c)(3). 

15 ‘‘(5) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘Federal land’ 

16 means land owned by the United States and under 

17 the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

18 the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, other 

19 than land held in trust for an Indian or Indian tribe. 

20 ‘‘(6) FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY

21 CREDIT.—The term ‘Federal renewable electricity 

22 credit’ means a credit, representing one kilowatt 

23 hour of renewable electricity, issued pursuant to sub24 section (d). 


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1 ‘‘(7) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Re2 newable Electricity Deployment Fund established 

3 under subsection (f). 

4 ‘‘(8) INVENTORIED ROADLESS AREA.—The 

5 term ‘Inventoried Roadless Area’ means one of the 

6 areas identified in the set of inventoried roadless 

7 areas maps contained in the Forest Service Roadless 

8 Areas Conservation, Final Environmental Impact 

9 Statement, Volume 2, dated November 2000. 

10 ‘‘(9) QUALIFIED HYDROPOWER.—The term 

11 ‘qualified hydropower’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) electricity generated solely from in13 creased efficiency achieved, or additions of ca14 pacity made, on or after January 1, 2001 at a 

15 hydroelectric facility that was placed in service 

16 before that date; or 

17 ‘‘(B) electricity generated from generating 

18 capacity added on or after January 1, 2001 to 

19 a dam that did not previously have the capacity 

20 to generate electricity, provided that the Com21 mission certifies that— 

22 ‘‘(i) the dam was placed in service be23 fore the date of the enactment of this sec24 tion and was operated for flood control, 

25 navigation, or water supply purposes and 


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1 did not produce hydroelectric power before 

2 January 1, 2001; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the hydroelectric project installed 

4 on the dam is licensed by the Commission 

5 and meets all other applicable environ6 mental, licensing, and regulatory require7 ments, including applicable fish passage re8 quirements; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) the hydroelectric project in10 stalled on the dam is operated so that the 

11 water surface elevation at any given loca12 tion and time that would have occurred in 

13 the absence of the hydroelectric project is 

14 maintained, subject to any license require15 ments that require changes in water sur16 face elevation for the purpose of improving 

17 the environmental quality of the affected 

18 waterway. 

19 ‘‘(10) RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY.—The term 

20 ‘renewable electricity’ means electricity generated 

21 from a renewable energy resource. 

22 ‘‘(11) RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE.—The 

23 term ‘renewable energy resource’ means each of the 

24 following: 

25 ‘‘(A) wind energy; 


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1 ‘‘(B) solar energy; 

2 ‘‘(C) geothermal energy; 

3 ‘‘(D) combustion of biomass or landfill gas; 

4 ‘‘(E) qualified hydropower; or 

5 ‘‘(F) marine and hydrokinetic renewable 

6 energy, as that term is defined in section 632 

7 of the Energy Independence and Security Act 

8 of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17211). 

9 ‘‘(12) RETAIL ELECTRIC SUPPLIER.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘retail elec11 tric supplier’ means, for any given year, an 

12 electric utility that sold not less than 1,000,000 

13 megawatt hours of electric energy to electric 

14 consumers for purposes other than resale dur15 ing the preceding calendar year. 

16 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS.—For 

17 purposes of determining whether an electric 

18 utility qualifies as a retail electric supplier 

19 under subparagraph (A)— 

20 ‘‘(i) the sales of any affiliate of an 

21 electric utility to electric consumers for 

22 purposes other than resale shall be consid23 ered to be sales of such electric utility; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) sales by any electric utility to a 

25 parent company or to other affiliates of 


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1 such electric utility shall not be treated as 

2 sales to electric consumers. 

3 ‘‘(13) RETAIL ELECTRIC SUPPLIER’S BASE

4 AMOUNT.—The term ‘retail electric supplier’s base 

5 amount’ means the total amount of electric energy 

6 sold by the retail electric supplier, expressed in 

7 terms of kilowatt hours, to electric customers for 

8 purposes other than resale during the relevant cal9 endar year, excluding electricity generated by— 

10 ‘‘(A) a hydroelectric facility that is not 

11 qualified hydropower; or 

12 ‘‘(B) combustion of municipal solid waste. 

13 ‘‘(14) RETIRE AND RETIREMENT.—The terms 

14 ‘retire’ and ‘retirement’ with respect to a Federal re15 newable electricity credit, means to disqualify such 

16 credit for any subsequent use under this section, re17 gardless of whether the use is a sale, transfer, ex18 change, or submission in satisfaction of a compliance 

19 obligation. 

20 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 

21 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec22 retary shall, by regulation, establish a program to imple23 ment and enforce the requirements of this section. In es24 tablishing such program, the Secretary shall, to the extent 

25 practicable— 


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1 ‘‘(1) preserve the integrity, and incorporate best 

2 practices, of existing State renewable electricity pro3 grams; 

4 ‘‘(2) rely upon existing and emerging State or 

5 regional tracking systems that issue and track non6 Federal renewable electricity credits; and 

7 ‘‘(3) cooperate with the States to facilitate co8 ordination between State and Federal renewable 

9 electricity programs and to minimize administrative 

10 burdens and costs to retail electric suppliers. 

11 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each of calendar years 

13 2012 through 2039, each retail electric supplier 

14 shall, not later than April 1 of the following calendar 

15 year, submit to the Secretary a quantity of Federal 

16 renewable electricity credits equal to the retail elec17 tric supplier’s base amount for the calendar year 

18 multiplied by the required annual percentage set 

19 forth in paragraph (2). 

20 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED ANNUAL PERCENTAGE.—For 

21 each of calendar years 2012 through 2039, the re22 quired annual percentage shall be as follows: 

‘‘Calendar year Required annual 

percentage 

2012 ............................................................................... 6.0 

2013 ............................................................................... 6.0 

2014 ............................................................................... 8.5 

2015 ............................................................................... 8.5 


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‘‘Calendar year Required annual 

percentage 

2016 ............................................................................... 11.0 

2017 ............................................................................... 11.0 

2018 ............................................................................... 14.0 

2019 ............................................................................... 14.0 

2020 ............................................................................... 17.5 

2021 ............................................................................... 17.5 

2022 ............................................................................... 21.0 

2023 ............................................................................... 21.0 

2024 ............................................................................... 23.0 

2025 through 2039 ........................................................ 25.0 

1 ‘‘(3) ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE PAYMENTS.— 

2 A retail electric supplier may satisfy the require3 ments of paragraph (1) in whole or in part by sub4 mitting in lieu of each Federal renewable electricity 

5 credit, a payment equal to the lesser of— 

6 ‘‘(A) 200 percent of the average market 

7 value of a Federal renewable electricity credit 

8 for the previous compliance year, as determined 

9 by the Secretary; or 

10 ‘‘(B) 5 cents, adjusted on January 1 of 

11 each year following calendar year 2009 based 

12 on the Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price 

13 Deflator. 

14 ‘‘(4) USE OF PAYMENTS.—Alternative compli15 ance payments submitted pursuant to paragraph (3) 

16 shall be deposited in the Fund established under 

17 subsection (f). 

18 ‘‘(d) ISSUANCE OF FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELEC19 TRICITY CREDITS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CREDIT ISSUANCE.—The regulations pro2 mulgated under subsection (b) shall include provi3 sions governing the issuance, tracking, and retire4 ment of Federal renewable electricity credits. Except 

5 as provided in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) of this 

6 subsection, the Secretary shall issue to each gener7 ator of renewable electricity, 1 Federal renewable 

8 electricity credit for each kilowatt hour of renewable 

9 electricity generated by such generator. 

10 ‘‘(2) GENERATION FROM STATE RENEWABLE

11 ELECTRICITY PROGRAMS USING CENTRAL PROCURE12 MENT AND FROM STATE ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE

13 PAYMENTS.—Where renewable electricity is gen14 erated with the support of payments from a retail 

15 electric supplier pursuant to a State renewable elec16 tricity program (whether through State alternative 

17 compliance payments or through payments to a 

18 State renewable electricity procurement fund or enti19 ty), the Secretary shall issue Federal renewable elec20 tricity credits to such retail electric supplier for the 

21 proportion of the relevant renewable electricity gen22 eration that is attributable to the retail electric sup23 plier’s payments, as determined pursuant to regula24 tions issued by the Secretary. For any remaining 

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1 tion, the Secretary shall issue Federal renewable 

2 electricity credits to the generator, as provided in 

3 paragraph (1), provided that in no event shall more 

4 than 1 Federal renewable electricity credit be issued 

5 for the same kilowatt hour of electricity. In deter6 mining how Federal renewable electricity credits will 

7 be apportioned among retail electric suppliers and 

8 generators in such circumstances, the Secretary 

9 shall consider information and guidance furnished by 

10 the relevant State or States. 

11 ‘‘(3) CERTAIN POWER SALES CONTRACTS.— 

12 When a generator has sold renewable electricity to 

13 a retail electric supplier under a contract for power 

14 from a facility placed in service before the date of 

15 enactment of this section, and the contract does not 

16 provide for the determination of ownership of the 

17 Federal renewable electricity credits associated with 

18 such generation, the Secretary shall issue such Fed19 eral renewable electricity credits to the retail electric 

20 supplier for the duration of the contract. 

21 ‘‘(4) CREDIT MULTIPLIER FOR DISTRIBUTED

22 GENERATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

24 subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall issue 3 

25 Federal renewable electricity credits for each 


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1 kilowatt hour of renewable electricity generated 

2 by a distributed generation facility. 

3 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT.—Except as provided 

4 in subparagraph (C), not later than January 1, 

5 2014, and not less frequently than every 4 

6 years thereafter, the Secretary shall review the 

7 effect of this paragraph and shall, as necessary, 

8 reduce the number of Federal renewable elec9 tricity credits per kilowatt hour issued under 

10 this paragraph, but not below 1, to ensure that 

11 such number is no higher than the Secretary 

12 determines is necessary to make distributed 

13 generation facilities cost competitive with other 

14 sources of renewable electricity generation. 

15 ‘‘(C) FACILITIES PLACED IN SERVICE

16 AFTER ENACTMENT.—For any distributed gen17 eration facility placed in service after the date 

18 of enactment of this section, subparagraph (B) 

19 shall not apply for the first 10 years after date 

20 of enactment. For each year during such 10- 

21 year period, the Secretary shall issue the facil22 ity the same number of Federal renewable elec23 tricity credits per kilowatt hour as are issued to 

24 that facility in the year in which such facility 

25 is placed in service. After such 10-year period, 


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1 the Secretary shall issue Federal renewable en2 ergy credits to the facility in accordance with 

3 the current multiplier as determined pursuant 

4 to subparagraph (B). 

5 ‘‘(5) CREDITS BASED ON INCREMENTAL HY6 DROPOWER.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

7 number of Federal renewable electricity credits 

8 issued for qualifying hydropower described in sub9 section (a)(9)(A) shall be calculated— 

10 ‘‘(A) based solely on the increase in aver11 age annual generation directly resulting from 

12 the efficiency improvements or capacity addi13 tions described in subsection (a)(9)(A); and 

14 ‘‘(B) using the same water flow informa15 tion used to determine a historic average an16 nual generation baseline for the hydroelectric 

17 facility, as certified by the Secretary or by the 

18 Commission. 

19 ‘‘(6) GENERATION FROM MIXED RENEWABLE

20 AND NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES.—If electricity is 

21 generated using both a renewable energy resource 

22 and an energy source that is not a renewable energy 

23 resource (as, for example, in the case of co-firing of 

24 biomass and fossil fuel), the Secretary shall issue 

25 Federal renewable electricity credits based on the 


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1 proportion of the electricity that is attributable to 

2 the renewable energy resource. 

3 ‘‘(7) PROHIBITION AGAINST DOUBLE-COUNT4 ING.—Except as provided in paragraph (4) of this 

5 subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that no more 

6 than 1 Federal renewable electricity credit will be 

7 issued for any kilowatt hour of renewable electricity 

8 and that no Federal renewable electricity credit will 

9 be used more than once for compliance with this sec10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(e) TRADING AND BANKING OF CREDITS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) TRADING.—The lawful holder of a Federal 

13 renewable electricity credit may sell, exchange, 

14 transfer, submit for compliance in accordance with 

15 subsection (c), or submit such credit for retirement 

16 by the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(2) BANKING.—A Federal renewable elec18 tricity credit may be submitted in satisfaction of the 

19 compliance obligation set forth in subsection (c) for 

20 the compliance year in which the credit was issued 

21 or for any of the 3 immediately subsequent compli22 ance years. The Secretary shall retire any Federal 

23 renewable electricity credit that has not been sub24 mitted under subsection (c) by the deadline for the 


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1 compliance year that is 3 years after the compliance 

2 year in which the credit was issued. 

3 ‘‘(3) DELEGATION OF MARKET ADMINISTRA4 TION.—The Secretary may delegate to one or more 

5 appropriate market-making entities the administra6 tion of a Federal renewable electricity credit market 

7 for purposes of creating a transparent and efficient 

8 national market. 

9 ‘‘(4) OVERSIGHT.—The Commission, in con10 sultation with the Secretary and relevant Federal 

11 agencies, may prescribe such rules as the Commis12 sioner determines necessary to ensure the trans13 parency, fairness, and stability of the market in 

14 Federal renewable electricity credits and any deriva15 tive instruments based on such credits. 

16 ‘‘(f) RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY DEPLOYMENT

17 FUND.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

19 Treasury of the United States a Renewable Elec20 tricity Deployment Fund. 

21 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.—All Federal alternative com22 pliance payments submitted to the Secretary pursu23 ant to subsection (c)(3) and civil penalties assessed 

24 under this section shall be deposited into the Fund. 

25 ‘‘(3) USE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Amounts deposited in 

2 the Fund shall be available exclusively for use 

3 by the Secretary, subject to appropriations, to 

4 make payments to retail electric suppliers in ac5 cordance with subparagraph (B). 

6 ‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—Not later than May 1 

7 of each year from 2013 through 2040, the Sec8 retary shall distribute amounts deposited in the 

9 Fund during the preceding 12-month period 

10 among the retail electric suppliers which have 

11 submitted Federal renewable electricity credits 

12 to the Secretary in total or partial compliance 

13 with their obligations under subsection (c) for 

14 the preceding calendar year. Each retail electric 

15 supplier shall receive a payment equal to the 

16 product of— 

17 ‘‘(i) the total payments made to all re18 tail electric suppliers under this subsection; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(ii) the quotient obtained by dividing 

21 the quantity specified in subclause (I) by 

22 the quantity specified in subclause (II): 

23 ‘‘(I) The quantity of Federal re24 newable electricity credits submitted 

25 by the retail electric supplier for the 


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1 preceding calendar year pursuant to 

2 subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(II) The total quantity of Fed4 eral renewable electricity credits sub5 mitted by all retail electric suppliers 

6 for the preceding calendar year pursu7 ant to subsection (c). 

8 ‘‘(g) INFORMATION COLLECTION.—In accordance 

9 with section 13 of the Federal Energy Administration Act 

10 of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 772), the Secretary may require any 

11 retail electric supplier, renewable electricity generator, or 

12 such other entities as the Secretary deems appropriate, to 

13 provide any information the Secretary determines appro14 priate to carry out this section. 

15 ‘‘(h) ENFORCEMENT AND JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 

16 ‘‘(1) CIVIL PENALTY.—If any person fails to 

17 comply with the requirements of subsection (c), such 

18 person shall be liable to pay to the Secretary a civil 

19 penalty equal to the product of— 

20 ‘‘(A) double the Federal alternative compli21 ance payment calculated under subsection 

22 (c)(3), and 

23 ‘‘(B) the aggregate quantity of Federal re24 newable electricity credits (or equivalent Fed25 eral alternative compliance payments) that the 


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1 person failed to submit to the Secretary in vio2 lation of the requirements of subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.—The Secretary shall as4 sess a civil penalty under paragraph (1) in accord5 ance with the procedures described in section 333(d) 

6 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1954 

7 (42 U.S.C. 6303). 

8 ‘‘(3) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any person who will 

9 be adversely affected by a final action taken by the 

10 Secretary under this section, other than the assess11 ment of a civil penalty under this subsection, may 

12 use the procedures for review described in section 

13 336(b) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 

14 (42 U.S.C. 6306). For purposes of this paragraph, 

15 references to a rule in section 336(b) of the Energy 

16 Policy and Conservation Act shall be deemed to refer 

17 also to all other final actions of the Secretary under 

18 this section other than the assessment of a civil pen19 alty under this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(i) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.—Nothing in this section 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) diminish or qualify any authority of a 

23 State or political subdivision of a State to— 

24 ‘‘(A) adopt or enforce any law or regula25 tion respecting renewable electricity, including 


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1 programs that exceed the required amount of 

2 renewable electricity under this section, pro3 vided that no such law or regulation may relieve 

4 any person of any requirement otherwise appli5 cable under this section; or 

6 ‘‘(B) regulate the acquisition and disposi7 tion of Federal renewable electricity credits by 

8 retail electric suppliers located within the terri9 tory of such State or political subdivision, in10 cluding the authority to require such retail elec11 tric supplier to acquire and retire Federal re12 newable electricity credits associated with elec13 tric energy it sells to end-use customers; or 

14 ‘‘(2) affect the application of, or the responsi15 bility for compliance with, any other provision of law 

16 or regulation, including environmental and licensing 

17 requirements. 

18 ‘‘(j) COST RECOVERY.—An electric utility, the retail 

19 electricity sales of which are subject to rate regulation, 

20 shall not be denied the opportunity to recover the full 

21 amount of the prudently incurred incremental cost of re22 newable electricity or Federal renewable electricity credits 

23 obtained, or alternative compliance payments made, to 

24 comply with the requirements of subsection (c). 

25 ‘‘(k) PROGRAM REVIEW.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES RE2 VIEW.—The Secretary shall enter into a contract 

3 with the National Academy of Sciences under which 

4 the Academy shall, not later than July 1, 2017, and 

5 every 5 years thereafter through 2032, submit to the 

6 Secretary and to Congress a comprehensive evalua7 tion of all aspects of the program established under 

8 this section, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) an evaluation of the effectiveness of 

10 the program, including its specific design ele11 ments, in increasing the market penetration 

12 and lowering the cost of the eligible renewable 

13 electricity generation technologies; 

14 ‘‘(B) the opportunities for any additional 

15 technologies and sources of renewable electricity 

16 generation that have emerged since enactment 

17 of this section; 

18 ‘‘(C) the program’s impact on the regional 

19 diversity and reliability of electricity supply; 

20 ‘‘(D) the net benefits or costs of the pro21 gram to the national and State economies, in22 cluding effects on retail electricity costs, eco23 nomic development benefits of investment, envi24 ronmental benefits, impacts on natural gas de25 mand and price, and avoided costs related to 


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1 environmental and congestion mitigation invest2 ments that otherwise would have been required; 

3 ‘‘(E) an assessment of the benefits and 

4 costs of increasing or extending the renewable 

5 electricity requirements set forth in subsection 

6 (c) of this section; and 

7 ‘‘(F) recommendations regarding potential 

8 changes to this section, to regulations and pro9 cedures for implementing this section, or to re10 lated public policies. 

11 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS.—Not 

12 later than January 1, 2018, and every 5 years there13 after through 2033, the Secretary shall transmit to 

14 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

15 United States House of Representatives and the 

16 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

17 United States Senate a report making recommenda18 tions for modifications and improvements to the pro19 gram established under this section and any related 

20 programs, including an explanation of the inconsist21 encies, if any, between the Secretary’s recommenda22 tions and those included in the National Academy of 

23 Sciences evaluation under paragraph (1). 

24 ‘‘(l) SUNSET.—This section expires on December 31, 

25 2040.’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 

2 of contents of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act 

3 of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601 and following) is amended by 

4 adding at the end of the items relating to title VI the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 610. Federal renewable electricity standard.’’. 

Æ 


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