I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3209 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 13, 2021 
Mr. NEGUSE (for himself and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Safe Power 
Grid Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means an electric utility, including— 
(A) a publicly owned electric utility; 
(B) a municipal electric utility; 
(C) a cooperatively owned electric utility; 
(D) an investor-owned electric utility; and 
(E) a Federal agency or federally owned 
corporation that is an electric utility (as defined 
in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 
U.S.C. 796)). 
(2) POWER LINE.—The term ‘‘power line’’ in-
cludes a transmission line or a distribution line, as 
applicable. 
(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 
the program established under subsection (b). 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Energy. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es-
tablish within the Office of Electricity Delivery and En-
ergy Reliability a program under which the Secretary shall 
make grants to eligible entities to carry out activities 
that— 
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(1) are supplemental to existing power grid- 
hardening efforts of the eligible entity planned for 
any given year; 
(2) are designed to enhance public safety; and 
(3)(A) reduce the risk of any power lines owned 
or operated by the eligible entity causing a wildfire; 
or 
(B) increase the resiliency of the power grid to 
withstand natural disasters, such as earthquakes, ice 
storms, wind storms, snow storms, heat storms, and 
other natural disasters. 
(c) APPLICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 
grant under the program shall submit to the Sec-
retary an application at such time, in such manner, 
and containing such information as the Secretary 
may require. 
(2) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of receiving 
a grant under the program, an eligible entity shall 
submit to the Secretary as part of the application of 
the eligible entity under paragraph (1)— 
(A) a wildfire mitigation plan, if the eligi-
ble entity seeks a grant for purposes of imple-
menting a project or otherwise carrying out ac-
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tivities to reduce wildfire risk, as described in 
subsection (b)(3)(A); or 
(B) a report detailing past, current, and 
future efforts by the eligible entity to improve 
the resiliency of the power grid with respect to 
natural disasters, if the eligible entity seeks a 
grant for purposes of increasing the resiliency 
of the power grid, as described in subsection 
(b)(3)(B). 
(d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—An eligible entity may 
use a grant provided under the program— 
(1) for the undergrounding of new and existing 
power lines and circuits; 
(2) to harden overhead power lines with fire re-
sistant or more resilient equipment, such as steel 
poles and covered wires; 
(3) to replace obsolete overhead conductors and 
underground cables; 
(4) to install fast-tripping protection systems; 
(5) to construct and operate 1 or more weather 
monitoring stations; 
(6) to install fault location equipment or early 
fault detection equipment; 
(7) for the relocation of power lines to road-
ways; 
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(8) to carry out vegetation or fuels management 
activities in accordance with Federal, State, and 
local laws (including regulations); 
(9) to install technology or equipment to miti-
gate hazards from or to animals and related damage 
to the power grid; 
(10) to install cameras, sensors, or other tech-
nology that provides real-time information about 
conditions; 
(11) to install technology to detect downed con-
ductors; 
(12) for the installation of electrical facilities 
necessary to sustain targeted microgrid operations, 
including storage for the integration of distributed 
energy resources into power grid operations, for the 
benefit of community resiliency following a main 
power grid outage; 
(13) to harden facilities, substations, and other 
systems for seismic events; and 
(14) for other, related power grid upgrades to 
reduce the risk of wildfire ignition or damage from 
natural disasters. 
(e) PRIORITY.—In making grants under the program, 
the Secretary shall give priority to projects that, in the 
determination of the Secretary, will generate the greatest 
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community benefit in improving power grid resiliency to 
natural disasters or reducing the risk of wildfire ignition 
from power lines or equipment relative to the cost of the 
project. 
(f) SET ASIDES.— 
(1) WILDFIRE SET ASIDE.—In making grants 
under the program, the Secretary shall ensure that 
not less than 40 percent of the total amounts made 
available to eligible entities under the program are 
made available to eligible entities that seek a grant 
for purposes of implementing a project or otherwise 
carrying out activities to reduce wildfire risk, as de-
scribed in subsection (b)(3)(A). 
(2) SMALL UTILITIES SET ASIDE.—In making 
grants under the program, the Secretary shall en-
sure that not less than 20 percent of the amounts 
made available to eligible entities under the program 
are made available to eligible entities that sell not 
more than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity 
per year. 
(g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), as a condition of receiving a grant under 
the program, an eligible entity shall provide match-
ing funds in the form of cash or an in-kind contribu-
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tion in an amount equal to not less than 100 percent 
of the amounts made available under the grant. 
(2) EXCEPTION FOR SMALL UTILITIES.—With 
respect to an eligible entity that sells not more than 
4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, as 
a condition of receiving a grant under the program, 
the eligible entity shall provide matching funds in 
the form of cash or an in-kind contribution in an 
amount equal to not less than 1⁄3 of the amounts 
made available under the grant. 
(3) EXISTING EFFORTS.—On approval by the 
Secretary, amounts expended by an eligible entity on 
power grid resiliency or wildfire risk mitigation ef-
forts during the 1-year period ending on the date on 
which a grant is received under the program shall 
count toward the matching requirement described in 
paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable. 
(h) FEDERAL
POWER
MARKETING
ADMINISTRA-
TIONS.—Any amounts made available to a Federal power 
marketing administration pursuant to a grant under the 
program shall be nonreimbursable. 
(i) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years there-
after, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En-
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com-
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mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-
resentatives a report describing the manner in which, and 
the extent to which— 
(1) the resiliency of the power grid has in-
creased under the program during the period cov-
ered by the report; and 
(2) the risk of wildfires caused by power lines 
has been reduced under the program during the pe-
riod covered by the report. 
(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
out the program $10,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2022 through 2031. 
Æ 
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