Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes processes to identify and respond to electric power systems that do not have sufficient electric generation to maintain reliability.

Highlights:

• Requires the electric reliability organization (i.e., the North American Electric Reliability Corporation) to conduct annual long-term assessments of the reliability of electric power in the bulk-power system (Sec. 2).

• Establishes a process for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review federal regulations before they are finalized if the electric reliability organization finds that the system is at risk of not having sufficient electric generation to maintain reliability (Sec. 2).

• Requires that if the electric reliability organization finds that the system does not have sufficient generation to maintain reliability, it must notify FERC that the bulk-power system is in a state of generation inadequacy, and FERC must then notify the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and any other appropriate federal agencies (Sec. 2).

• Requires the federal agency to, upon receiving notification, provide proposed regulations that affect any generation resource in the bulk-power system to FERC for review and comment (Sec. 2).

• Requires FERC, if applicable, to provide recommendations to modify the regulations, and specifies that federal agencies may not finalize such a regulation until FERC finds that it will not be likely to have a significant negative impact on the ability of the bulk-power system to supply sufficient electric energy necessary to maintain an adequate level of reliability (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text