Press Releases

Today, Representative Troy Balderson (OH-12) and Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) released the following statements following passage of H.R. 1047, the Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Balderson, passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 216-206.
 
“With American power demand far outpacing our ability to generate more electricity, our grid is heading toward a reliability crisis,” said Representative Balderson. “The interconnection queue is overwhelmed and bogged down, leaving shovel-ready power projects waiting for years while demand continues to climb. The GRID Power Act clears the path for the most critical projects, giving grid operators the tools they need to add more dispatchable baseload power—lowering costs for households and businesses while keeping America’s grid reliable.”
 
“One of the greatest policy priorities for the Western Caucus is to strengthen the electric grid to ensure delivery of affordable and reliable electricity to American families and businesses,” said Chairman LaMalfa. “As energy demand skyrockets, the grid is under stress. There is an urgent need to expedite proposals to increase delivery of reliable baseload power sources such as natural gas, nuclear, hydropower and coal. I want to thank Representative Balderson for his leadership on this critical issue.”
 
This bill directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to initiate a rulemaking process requiring transmission providers to prioritize and expedite interconnection queue requests for dispatchable generation projects.
 
Full text can be found here.