The House on Tuesday passed legislation aimed at forcing utilities to keep coal-fired power plants online beyond their scheduled retirement dates, with support from a handful of moderate Democrats.
The “Power Plant Reliability Act,” H.R. 3632, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), would grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission broad new authority to require utilities to continue operating power plants if their retirement would threaten grid reliability. The bill passed 222-202.
“Nothing can be more destructive to our communities than a blackout,” said House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy Chair Bob Latta (R-Ohio). “When a state seeks to close a power plant without identifying sufficient replacement, there is little recourse for consumers.”
Republicans and the Trump administration argue that aggressive environmental regulations under former President Joe Biden — including EPA’s now-doomed rule on power plant emissions — have pushed states and utilities to prematurely shutter fossil fuel facilities.
