01.21.04

Senators: Pass Electric Reliability Legislation Now

Senators Introduce Reliability Provisions as Stand-alone Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C . - U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell, Hillary Clinton, Jim Jeffords and Russ Feingold today introduced the Electric Reliability Act of 2004. This legislation would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority to devise a system of mandatory and enforceable standards for the reliable operation of our nation’s electricity grid.

The Senate has passed these provisions twice in the past two years, as part of comprehensive energy legislation. However, the Senate failed to end debate on the latest energy bill conference report (H.R. 6) last November due to provisions unrelated to reliability, including rollbacks of important environmental laws, liability protections for polluters and pork-barrel projects, such as an infamous tax break for a mall in Louisiana including among its tenants a Hooters restaurant.

Senators Cantwell, Clinton, Jeffords and Feingold believe that it is important to reach consensus on a comprehensive energy plan, but that HR. 6 falls far short of the mark. Meanwhile, the nation cannot afford to delay action on improving the reliability of the electricity grid.

"We can not allow good energy policy to be held hostage by the special interests that stand to profit so handsomely from the Republican-authored energy bill," said Cantwell. "Consumers and businesses alike rely on our electricity grid. This bill will help keep the lights on; continued inaction on reliability legislation could pull the plug on our economy."

"More than five months after the worst blackout in our history, Congress has yet to pass legislation to create mandatory, enforceable electricity reliability standards," said Senator Clinton. "We need to act now so that rules can be developed and put in place before the summer to help prevent another devastating blackout from occurring."

Jeffords added, "The country needs federal legislation to ensure the reliable delivery of electric power, and the Senate should deliver by passing this bill expeditiously. We've had enough warnings, such as the Northeast and Western blackouts. Given the high costs of power outages to our country we cannot afford let this legislation languish within the unacceptable, environmentally damaging, and subsidy-ridden energy bill."

The urgent need for reliability provisions was made clear last August, when much of the Northeast and Midwest suffered a massive power outage, affecting 50 million consumers from New York to Michigan. The biggest blackout in American history underscored the need for mandatory and enforceable reliability standards-as envisioned in the Electric Reliability Act of 2004. To date, the system has operated under a set of voluntary guidelines, with no concrete penalties for those who break the rules and jeopardize the reliable energy service that is the foundation of our nation’s economy.

The Senate has previously recognized the human and economic stakes associated with the reliable operation of the electricity grid. The Senate passed similar stand-alone legislation in June 2000, when it was under Republican control. Since then, under the leadership of both parties, the Senate has twice passed the very provisions included in the Electric Reliability Act of 2004 as part of comprehensive energy legislation-most recently, this past summer.

The call for reliability legislation dates back at least another five years. In 1997, both a Task Force established by the Clinton Administration’s Department of Energy and a blue ribbon panel formed by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) determined that reliability rules for our nation’s electric system had to be made mandatory and enforceable.