WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finalizing new rules for how America plans, permits, and builds electrical transmission lines, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50), Chair of the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change and Clean Energy Task Force, released the following statement:

“For too long, our clean energy buildout has been hampered by the snail’s pace construction of electrical transmission lines. Today’s final rules will help change that by establishing a framework for all beneficiaries to fairly share in the cost of building these lines, promoting grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), which significantly increase the capacity of existing lines, and creating a strong national standard for regions to plan future lines, while modernizing FERC’s permitting process for lines in the national interest. This is a major contrast to the current system, where regions do not plan around common criteria, there are little to no incentives to deploy GETs, and cost allocation is subject to protracted, and often project killing, negotiations. Altogether, these changes will make our energy supply not only cleaner, but also cheaper for consumers and more reliable in cases of extreme weather events and potential cyber or physical attacks. Updates to FERC’s permitting authorities will also ensure we can build critical lines on a predictable and efficient timeline.

“While this rule is a strong step in the right direction, there is much more that Congress must do if we take the climate crisis seriously. We must now focus on interregional transmission planning — which is critical for national security, energy resilience, and affordability — by establishing a minimum transfer requirement, like that found in my BIG WIRES Act, so that regions can transfer at least some power during times of need. We must pass my SPEED and Reliability Act to give FERC the authority to conduct backstop siting reviews simultaneously with state reviews, slashing years off the permitting timeline. We must strengthen FERC’s permitting authorities by designating it as the lead agency for large, interstate transmission lines by passing my FASTER Act, which incentivizes community engagement and input in the permitting process.

“If we want to build wind, utility-scale solar, geothermal, advanced nuclear, and all the other clean technologies of the future as fast as possible, we must rethink our permitting process entirely. For 50 years we have been on the defense against dirty polluting projects — now, we need to be on the offense by building the infrastructure that will replace those projects.”

In May of 2023, Rep. Peters and Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) called on FERC to finalize this rule. Also in May of 2023, Rep. Peters, as Chair of the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change and Clean Energy Task Force, released the coalition’s permitting reform priorities, which included the cost allocation component of this rule.