I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2678 

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 

APRIL 20, 2021 

Mr. CASTEN 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 2021’’. 


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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 180 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Energy Regu6 latory Commission shall initiate a rulemaking address7 ing— 

8 (1) the effectiveness of existing planning proc9 esses for identifying interregional transmission 

10 projects that provide economic, reliability, oper11 ational, public policy, and environmental benefits 

12 (including reductions in carbon emissions), taking 

13 into consideration the public interest, the integrity of 

14 markets, and the protection of consumers; 

15 (2) changes to the processes described in para16 graph (1) to ensure that efficient, cost-effective, and 

17 broadly beneficial interregional transmission solu18 tions are selected for cost allocation, taking into con19 sideration— 

20 (A) the public interest; 

21 (B) the integrity of markets; 

22 (C) the protection of consumers; 

23 (D) the broad range of economic, reli24 ability, operational, public policy, and environ25 mental benefits that interregional transmission 


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1 provides, including reductions in carbon emis2 sions; 

3 (E) the need for single projects to secure 

4 approvals based on a comprehensive assessment 

5 of the multiple benefits provided; 

6 (F) that projects that meet interregional 

7 benefit criteria should not be subject to subse8 quent reassessment by transmission planning 

9 authorities; 

10 (G) the importance of synchronization of 

11 planning processes in neighboring regions, such 

12 as using a joint model on a consistent timeline 

13 with a single set of needs, input assumptions, 

14 and benefit metrics; 

15 (H) that evaluation of long-term scenarios 

16 should align with the expected life of a trans17 mission asset; 

18 (I) that transmission planning authorities 

19 should allow for the identification and joint 

20 evaluation of alternatives proposed by stake21 holders; 

22 (J) that interregional planning should be 

23 done regularly and not less frequently than 

24 once every 3 years; and 


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1 (K) the elimination of arbitrary project 

2 voltage, size, or cost requirements for inter3 regional solutions; and 

4 (3) cost allocation methodologies that reflect 

5 the multiple benefits provided by interregional trans6 mission solutions, including economic, reliability, 

7 operational, public policy, and environmental bene8 fits (including reductions in carbon emissions). 

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

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Energy Regu11 latory Commission shall promulgate a final rule to com12 plete the rulemaking initiated under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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