Electricity Transmission Permitting Reform Proposals: Congressional Research Service Report

The Congressional Research Service (“CRS”) issued a February 9th report titled:

Electricity Transmission Permitting Reform Proposals (“Report”)

The CRS serves as bipartisan shared staff to Congressional committees and members.

The Report states that permitting reform has been a focus of the 118th Congress. A subset of this issue involves a review of the processes for planning, siting, approving, and paying for electricity transmission lines.

Proponents of transmission permitting reform are described as identifying two main objectives:

1. Increased use of wind and solar energy
2. Improved electric reliability and resilience

The Report states that Congressional debate has coalesced around “perceived hurdles”:

. . . to the development of large, interstate electricity transmission lines which are broadly viewed as being supportive of these two desired outcomes.

Three identified “perceived hurdles” include:

• Process for siting electricity transmission lines (i.e., approving their route and authorizing construction)
• Allocation of electricity transmission line costs to customers
• Planning process for multistate electricity transmission lines

The Report compares provisions addressing various electricity transmission topics in 12 permitting reform proposals pending in the 118th Congress. This includes the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rulemakings that have been initiated are also reviewed.

The contents of the Report include:

• Current Electricity transmission Policy Issues
  • Siting Authority
  • Cost Allocation
  • Interregional transmission Planning
  • Other Issues
• FERC Activities
• Legislative Proposals
• Biden Administration Priorities
• Concluding Observations

The Report is authored by Ashley J. Lawson who is described as a CRS Specialist in Energy Policy.

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.