FERC Still Wants Transmission Authority, With or Without Cap-and-Trade

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wants to have the power to override state-by-state objections to building new transmission lines – and it wants it to happen this year, with or without accompanying laws to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

That's the message FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff delivered to reporters Friday, according to Reuters.

The comments highlight a growing concern among politicians that combining a controversial carbon cap-and-trade program with less contentious efforts to boost renewable energy, energy efficiency and grid improvements in one massive bill could be the wrong way to go.

Giving FERC more authority over the siting of new transmission lines - particularly those that will be needed to carry power from new Midwest wind farms and Southwest solar farms - was part of draft legislation created by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee in March (see Draft Legislation a Boon for Solar, Smart Grid).

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he'd like those measures to become part of a broader climate and energy bill that includes a carbon cap-and-trade program that' s opposed by Republicans and many industry groups.

While a version of that legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed the House in June, it faces an increasingly difficult road to passage in the Senate (see Energy-Climate Bill Could Boost Electricity Costs 20% by 2030).

Earlier this week, several Senate Democrats said they doubt a bill including cap-and-trade can be passed this year, and some suggested trying to pass the renewable energy, energy efficiency and other less controversial portions of the bill on their own (see Green Light post).