HR-9335-119
Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 39 - 10.
Sponsored by Craig Goldman (R-TX)
What it does
This bill would direct the Secretary of Energy to create a publicly available online clearinghouse cataloging advanced transmission technology projects, available financial assistance, and analyses of costs, benefits, and geographic factors. It would also allow the Department of Energy to provide voluntary technical assistance to electric utilities, transmission organizations, and state regulators. Additionally, it would require the Secretary to develop voluntary best practices for reducing wildfire ignition risk from power transmission lines, and would exempt federal funding decisions for advanced transmission technology from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Who benefits
Electric utilities seeking information on grid modernization technologies and available federal funding. Transmission organizations looking to incorporate new technologies into planning. State utility regulators developing frameworks for advanced transmission technology. Electricity ratepayers who may see lower bills if transmission efficiency improvements reduce congestion costs. Communities in wildfire-prone regions (particularly in the western U.S.) that could benefit from reduced ignition risk from power lines. Renewable energy developers who depend on expanded and modernized transmission capacity. Rural electric cooperatives that may lack in-house expertise and benefit from federal technical assistance.
Who is hurt
Environmental advocacy groups and communities near transmission projects who would lose the ability to trigger NEPA environmental impact reviews for federally funded advanced transmission technology deployments. Competing technology vendors not featured prominently in the clearinghouse could face indirect disadvantage. State and local governments that rely on NEPA processes to assess project impacts on local ecosystems and communities. Landowners along transmission corridors who currently use NEPA comment processes to raise concerns about federally funded projects.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the U.S. transmission grid is a critical bottleneck for both reliability and clean energy deployment, and that fragmented information across utilities, states, and federal agencies slows adoption of proven technologies that could reduce electricity costs for consumers. They contend that advanced transmission technologies — such as dynamic line ratings and topology optimization — can increase grid capacity by 10–40% on existing infrastructure without building new lines, and that the NEPA exemption removes a procedural barrier for funding decisions that do not themselves construct physical infrastructure, accelerating deployment without sacrificing environmental oversight of actual construction.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that the NEPA exemption is the bill's most consequential provision and that removing environmental review from federal funding decisions — even for non-construction activities — sets a precedent for bypassing public input on projects that can have real land-use and ecological consequences. They contend that the clearinghouse and technical assistance functions, while useful, could be accomplished through existing DOE programs without new legislation, and that the wildfire best practices provision, being entirely voluntary with an explicit savings clause barring any mandate, may produce little measurable reduction in wildfire ignition risk given utilities' discretion to ignore the guidance.
Constitutional context
Congress's authority to direct the Department of Energy to create an information clearinghouse and provide technical assistance rests on the Commerce Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 3), as electricity transmission is inherently interstate commerce. The NEPA exemption raises a more pointed question: post-Loper Bright (2024), courts independently assess whether agency actions conform to statutory authority, meaning any DOE implementation of this exemption would face heightened judicial scrutiny rather than deference to the agency's reading of NEPA's scope.
Checks and balances
The executive branch (Department of Energy) gains new administrative responsibilities and discretionary authority to provide technical assistance, but the bill includes explicit savings clauses barring DOE or FERC from requiring utilities to adopt any technology or best practice, preserving state regulatory authority and limiting federal power over utility operations.
Historical precedent
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (which this bill amends) previously established the foundational advanced transmission technology framework under Section 1223, and Congress has repeatedly used NEPA categorical exclusions and exemptions for energy infrastructure funding in subsequent legislation, including provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.