OPINION:
Over the past half-decade, energy prices for Americans have risen.
This has often forced them to make tough decisions about what other goods and services they can afford. This should not be the norm. Working families deserve access to abundant and reliable energy, giving them flexibility to invest their hard-earned savings in whatever they deem most important.
That goal is achievable, but not through unworkable electricity rate caps, green energy mandates or data center moratoriums, as we have seen proposed by blue-state governors.
To lower prices while securing our grid, I have released the POWER Act, draft legislation that provides the commonsense permitting reforms needed to bring baseload energy onto our grid while promoting innovation.
America’s permitting system is broken. Slow, burdensome and unpredictable review processes have produced an unreliable grid and higher costs for consumers. Manufacturers have been forced to contend with longer construction timelines and higher project costs that put the United States at a competitive disadvantage.
In Democratic-run states, renewable portfolio standards, which are effectively green energy mandates, undermine the reliability of the grid and increase prices. Meanwhile, federal and state regulations are forcing reliable power to shut down before replacements are ready, creating a reliability crisis.
Layered on top of these challenges, supply chain constraints and equipment backlogs are also slowing the building of industrial projects that America needs to compete.
The POWER Act addresses these issues by combining into one piece of legislation the commonsense permitting reforms that America needs to speed up the construction of pipelines, power generation and electric transmission.
This legislation contains three main pillars: producing energy, moving energy and powering industry to build and grow.
Producing energy domestically is key to securing American energy dominance. From the outset of this Congress, through related hearings and legislation, our House Energy and Commerce Committee has focused on finding ways to generate the reliable, affordable power that our communities need.
Last winter, we saw the consequences of relying on intermittent sources such as wind and solar, when New England states were forced to burn trash to keep the lights on after renewables failed to provide enough electricity.
The Power Plant Reliability Act would help address this issue by empowering the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to keep reliable power plants running for up to five years when retiring them would threaten the grid.
As we work to build our grid and meet America’s growing power demand, driven partly by the need to support data centers, the POWER Act includes the text of the Ratepayer Protection Act. This section builds on the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, xAI and other signers, including utilities and regulators, committed to covering their own data center energy costs.
While developing the legislation, committee members held hearings and meetings with numerous stakeholders, including the data center industry and Big Tech, state regulators, utilities and community members. Through that work, it has become clear that across the entire industry, one entity is uniquely positioned to stand up for families — the ones paying electricity bills: Congress.
Modernizing our nation’s infrastructure and building the pipelines needed to carry the oil and natural gas that provide baseload power are critical to lowering prices. That is why this legislation includes the GRID Power Act, which would ensure that grid operators have the tools they need to secure the reliability of the electricity grid in the event of a capacity shortfall.
Likewise, the Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act streamlines permitting for interstate natural gas pipelines at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, supporting the development of dispatchable natural gas to communities across the country.
Access to affordable, reliable power will be key as we work to increase domestic manufacturing and power innovative new technologies. For too long, burdensome regulations have stood in the way of projects that would help deliver the energy we need.
That is why the POWER Act includes steps to make the permitting process faster and safer. The bill does this, in part, by streamlining the New Source Review permitting process for companies to upgrade facilities and install modern pollution controls, avoiding delays that would otherwise lead to higher costs.
Far too often, duplicative reviews slow development while providing no tangible benefits to families. The RED Tape Act ends double reviews of projects by the Environmental Protection Agency if the projects are already vetted under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Together, these individual measures form the basis for the permitting reform needed to deliver dispatchable baseload power to American families. Permits that take years to acquire slow down development and raise prices for families and businesses.
The POWER Act cuts through that red tape, helping deliver the energy we need today.
• Rep. Brett Guthrie represents Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District.
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