Contact: Regina Davis, rdavis@naruc.org

Manchin Legislation Eliminates Last Vestiges of State Electric Transmission Siting Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON (December 13, 2022) — In response to the “Building American Energy Security Act of 2022” released on December 7, 2022, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners sent a letter to Senator Joe Manchin expressing strong opposition to the legislation’s broad overreach and infringement on existing state siting authority and cost allocation authority for electric transmission projects.

As the letter notes, the proposal would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission carte blanche jurisdiction over electric transmission siting without respect to local circumstances or needs, which negates the principles of federalism outlined in the U.S. Constitution and does not address the real issue, which is federal permitting.

“We are actively engaging with FERC on this issue,” said NARUC President Michael Caron. “The Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission is a prime example of how cooperative federalism works. I would urge Senator Manchin and any other members of Congress to attend a NARUC meeting or a Task Force meeting to better understand how states and federal agencies can work well together to identify problems and work toward finding solutions.”

NARUC has offered to participate in drafting streamlined permitting legislation that takes into account the very real and significant issues that affect the states themselves, the regions and the myriad policy directions the different states are pursuing.

A copy of the letter is on NARUC’s website at http://bit.ly/3FhhotO.

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About NARUC

NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC’s member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of state public utility commissions before the three branches of the federal government.