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Washington Week: FERC commissioners to head back to Capitol Hill

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Washington Week: FERC commissioners to head back to Capitol Hill

All five members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will testify June 12 before the U.S. Senate, a hearing that could center on FERC's role in a national debate over grid resilience and whether coal-fired and nuclear power plants are entitled to federally mandated financial support.

The commissioners will appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee after testifying in April before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce.

FERC is drawing the attention of Capitol Hill as the agency juggles a heady slate of power and natural gas policy issues. The commission recently took comments from regional grid operators and stakeholders on how to define and ensure bulk power system resilience. FERC kicked off the initiative in conjunction with rejecting the U.S. Department of Energy's request for a rule aimed at propping up uneconomic coal-fired and nuclear plants in the name of resilience.

The commission wants regional grid operators to determine if market rules changes are needed to ensure resilience. But coal and nuclear energy proponents have pressed the Trump administration for more urgent action, causing President Donald Trump to ask the DOE to "prepare immediate steps" to stop the retirement of coal and nuclear plants. Meanwhile, the DOE has developed a draft plan that would require grid operators to buy power or capacity from certain coal and nuclear plants for two years.

In addition to reviewing power market rules, FERC is also examining whether the agency's nearly 20-year-old pipeline certification process needs to be changed to better account for a project's potential environmental impacts, including by looking at its downstream greenhouse gas emissions. But the stakeholders pushing for those changes were dealt a recent blow after FERC decided in a May 18 order to limit its analysis of the upstream and downstream impacts of pipeline projects under construction.

Senate panel to release EPA spending bill

The Senate Committee on Appropriations is also set to roll out its fiscal year 2019 spending bill for the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies. The bill will undergo a subcommittee markup June 12, followed by full committee consideration on June 14.

The bill will likely differ from the House's Interior and environment spending legislation released May 14. The House bill proposed trimming the EPA's budget to $7.96 billion in fiscal-year 2019, off by $100 million from prior-year enacted levels but still well above the Trump administration's request of $6.1 billion. The House bill also contained several policy riders, including one to fully repeal the EPA's Clean Water Rule, which the agency is already in the process of dismantling.

The House Appropriations Committee approved the bill June 6, teeing up the legislation for a full House vote.

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US Congress
June 12

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with all five FERC commissioners scheduled to attend.

June 12 & 14

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a subcommittee markup June 12 of its fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies. The full committee markup will take place June 14.

June 13

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a legislative hearing on several bills, including legislation to authorize pumped storage hydropower development at multiple U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs.

Industry events
June 11

The Atlantic Council will host a discussion with Vincent DeVito, counselor to the secretary for energy policy at the U.S. Department of Interior, at the council's office in Washington, D.C.

June 11

A briefing will take place on Capitol Hill on the "Importance of Commercial Nuclear Exports to the U.S. Economy."

June 12

The U.S. Energy Association will explore the "USE IT" Act and Prospects for Innovative Carbon Capture & Use Policy.

June 15

The CSIS Energy & National Security Program will host Paul Dabbar, under secretary for science at the U.S. Department of Energy, to discuss the DOE's priorities.

Other notable stories from last week

Push for generation subsidies could shift power market costs, panelists say

A year later, Trump still eyeing Paris withdrawal as others move to fill gap

US coal's appeal for federal support is getting little help outside DC

AEP chief wants further study of grid resilience as US DOE ponders broad plan

US House passes FY'19 energy spending bill