The US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing earlier this month to conduct oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The hearing focused on FERC’s role in ensuring reliability in light of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP), as well as FERC’s efforts to permit new natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities.
In response to these concerns, Chairman Norman C. Bay expressed confidence that any reliability issues arising from compliance with the CPP can be effectively managed. He emphasized that FERC examined potential reliability issues during technical conferences held earlier this year. He also noted that, based on the information gathered in those conferences, FERC provided suggestions to the EPA that were adopted in the final CPP (including the requirement that state plans undergo a “reliability review” prior to submission to EPA, as well as the “reliability safety valve” to address unanticipated reliability issues once state plans are in place). Chairman Bay further reiterated that FERC staff and the EPA will be meeting on a regular basis to analyze reliability issues that could arise under the CPP.