[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7977 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7977
To provide relief from high energy bills, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 18, 2026
Mr. Casten (for himself, Mr. Levin, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Balint, Ms.
Barragan, Mr. Bell, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brownley, Ms.
Budzinski, Ms. Bynum, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of
Florida, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. Clarke of
New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Craig, Ms. Dean of
Pennsylvania, Ms. DelBene, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Dexter, Mrs. Dingell,
Mr. Doggett, Ms. Elfreth, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania,
Mrs. Foushee, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Goldman of New
York, Mrs. Grijalva, Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon,
Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms.
Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Landsman,
Mr. Latimer, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Ms. Leger
Fernandez, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Mr.
Mannion, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McBride, Mrs. McClain Delaney, Ms. McClellan,
Ms. McCollum, Ms. McDonald Rivet, Mr. McGarvey, Mr. McGovern, Mr.
Menefee, Ms. Meng, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Min, Mr. Morelle, Ms. Morrison, Mr.
Moulton, Mr. Mrvan, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Ms.
Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Olszewski, Ms. Omar, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Pingree, Mr.
Pocan, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Rivas, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ruiz, Ms.
Salinas, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Scholten, Mr.
Scott of Virginia, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of
Washington, Mr. Sorensen, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stevens, Mr.
Subramanyam, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Torres of
New York, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Tran, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Vargas, Mr.
Vasquez, Mr. Vindman, Mr. Walkinshaw, Ms. Waters, Mrs. Watson Coleman,
Mr. Whitesides, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and
in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Ways and Means, Natural
Resources, Financial Services, Transportation and Infrastructure,
Education and Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, and Science,
Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide relief from high energy bills, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Energy Bills
Relief Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I--REVERSING ATTACKS ON LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY
Subtitle A--Restoring Tax Credits for Low-Cost, Clean Energy
Sec. 101. Repealing H.R. 1 rollbacks of low-cost, clean energy tax
credits.
Subtitle B--Stopping Administration Overreach Against Low-Cost, Clean
Energy
Sec. 111. Reversing grant terminations for low-cost, clean energy.
Sec. 112. Prevention of administrative abuse of Federal permitting of
low-cost, clean energy.
Sec. 113. Ratepayer protection against uneconomic power generation.
TITLE II--CUTTING ENERGY BILLS FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES
Sec. 201. Lowering household heating and cooling bills.
Sec. 202. Home weatherization.
Sec. 203. Reflective roofing.
Sec. 204. Domestic natural gas price protection.
Sec. 205. Rural energy savings.
TITLE III--UNCLOGGING THE LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY BOTTLENECK
Sec. 301. Expedited generator interconnection.
Sec. 302. Advanced transmission technologies.
Sec. 303. Electricity transformers.
Sec. 304. Streamlining permitting of distributed energy.
Sec. 305. Community solar.
Sec. 306. Low-cost, clean energy in United States territories.
TITLE IV--BUILDING OUT A 21ST CENTURY ELECTRICITY GRID
Subtitle A--Amendments to the Federal Power Act
Sec. 401. Definitions.
Sec. 402. Interregional electric transmission planning.
Sec. 403. Allocation of costs of electric transmission facilities of
national significance.
Sec. 404. Minimum interregional transfer capability.
Sec. 405. Increased FERC transmission siting authority.
Sec. 406. Prohibiting expensive, unjust queue jumping.
Subtitle B--Tax and Grants
Sec. 411. Transmission investment tax credit.
Sec. 412. Reduced wildfire risks to the grid.
Subtitle C--Transmission Governance Reform
Sec. 421. FERC staffing.
Sec. 422. FERC fee assessments.
Sec. 423. State public utility commission capacity grants.
Sec. 424. Independent transmission monitors.
Sec. 425. Aggregator bidding into organized wholesale electric markets.
Sec. 426. RTO and ISO governance and participation.
Sec. 427. Modernized grid data and analytics.
TITLE V--DEPLOYING LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY RESPONSIBLY ON PUBLIC LANDS
AND WATERS
Subtitle A--Public Land Renewable Energy Development
Sec. 501. Public land renewable energy development.
Sec. 502. Geothermal cost recovery.
Sec. 503. Geothermal Gold Book development.
Subtitle B--Offshore Renewable Deployment
Sec. 511. Responsible development of offshore renewable energy.
Sec. 512. Compensation for offshore renewable energy projects.
Sec. 513. Interoperability of offshore electric transmission
infrastructure.
TITLE VI--PROTECTING CONSUMERS IN ELECTRICITY REGULATION
Sec. 601. Utility earnings tied to ratepayer benefits.
Sec. 602. Consumer protection from energy market manipulation.
Sec. 603. Avoiding cost shifts onto families.
Sec. 604. True costs and value of energy for economic and public
benefit.
Sec. 605. Grid performance disclosure.
TITLE VII--COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENT
Sec. 701. Federal permitting capacity.
Sec. 702. Interagency environmental data system.
Sec. 703. Timely public release of NEPA documentation.
Sec. 704. Community benefits agreements.
Sec. 705. Intervenor funding at FERC Office of Public Participation.
Sec. 706. Senior community engagement officers and Tribal community
engagement officers.
Sec. 707. Capacity grants for permitting and community engagement.
TITLE I--REVERSING ATTACKS ON LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY
Subtitle A--Restoring Tax Credits for Low-cost, Clean Energy
SEC. 101. REPEALING H.R. 1 ROLLBACKS OF LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY TAX
CREDITS.
(a) Repeal.--Subchapter A of chapter 5 of subtitle A of title VII
of Public Law 119-21 is hereby repealed.
(b) Amendments.--Each provision of law amended by such subchapter
is amended to read as such provision would read if such subchapter had
never been enacted.
(c) Effects.--Each amendment made by subsection (b) shall take
effect as if included in the provision of such subchapter to which such
amendment relates.
Subtitle B--Stopping Administration Overreach Against Low-Cost, Clean
Energy
SEC. 111. REVERSING GRANT TERMINATIONS FOR LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY.
(a) The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency,
and the Department of Transportation may not terminate a Federal award
in part or its entirety, require a renegotiation or rescoping of the
Federal award, or decide not to fund a future budget period of a
Federal award on the basis that the Federal award no longer effectuates
the program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section
200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) Any Federal award that was terminated, renegotiated, rescoped,
or not progressed to future budget periods by the Department of Energy,
the Environmental Protection Agency, or the Department of
Transportation after January 19, 2025, for no longer effectuating the
program goals or agency priorities, including pursuant to section
200.340(a)(4) of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be
reinstated by such agency or entity under its previous terms and
conditions.
SEC. 112. PREVENTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE ABUSE OF FEDERAL PERMITTING OF
LOW-COST, CLEAN ENERGY.
(a) Requirement for Parity.--The Council on Environmental Quality,
in consultation with all applicable Federal agencies, shall ensure, via
subsection (b), that the processing of applications, authorizations, or
related approvals as well as denials and the activities referenced in
subsection (g) for wind, solar, storage, or related electric
transmission projects on Federal and non-Federal land and waters is not
subject to more restrictive or burdensome procedural requirements than
those applied to applications for oil, gas, or coal projects on Federal
and non-Federal land and waters and does not bias Federal decision
making in favor of oil, gas, or coal projects, including--
(1) requirements for elevated or discretionary review by
the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, other political appointees, or
career employees;
(2) additional documentation or review not required for
oil, gas, or coal projects;
(3) withholding, delaying, or reversing decisions by local
or regional entities for wind, solar, storage, or related
electric transmission projects for reasons not applied to oil,
gas or coal projects; and
(4) denial of routine administrative approvals, such as
testing permits or cost recovery agreements, or notices to
proceed once all criteria have been met for approval, based on
underlying technology.
(b) Policy Review.--
(1) Review.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the Council on Environmental
Quality, in consultation with all applicable Federal agencies,
shall--
(A) review all applicable regulations, guidance
documents, policy manuals, departmental directives,
Secretarial orders, and other procedures regarding
energy development; and
(B) identify any provision of such regulations,
documents, manuals, directives, orders, and procedures
not otherwise required in statute that do not comply
with the requirements in subsection (a).
(2) Rescission.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the applicable Secretary or
Administrator shall rescind or amend as necessary any provision
identified under subsection (a).
(c) Accountability in Permitting.--Not later than 180 days after
the date of enactment of this section and annually thereafter, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a
report on actions taken by all applicable Federal agencies related to
permitting for energy projects, which shall include--
(1) an analysis of the procedures used by all applicable
Federal agencies for processing applications, authorizations,
or approvals for wind, solar, storage, or related electric
transmission projects on Federal and non-Federal land and
waters and how those procedures compare to those used for oil,
gas, or coal projects;
(2) an analysis of the number of days applicable Federal
agencies took during the previous calendar year to process
applications, authorizations or approvals for wind, solar,
storage, or related electric transmission projects on Federal
and non-Federal land and waters compared to the number of days
to process applications, authorizations or approvals for oil,
gas, or coal projects; and
(3) an assessment of whether applicable Federal agencies
treated wind, solar, storage, or related electric transmission
projects the same as oil, gas, or coal projects during the
previous calendar year.
(d) Ensuring Energy Security.--
(1) Limitation on issuance of certain approvals.--Beginning
on the date of enactment of this Act--
(A) the Secretary of the Interior may not approve a
permit to extract coal or to drill on an onshore oil or
gas lease on Federal land unless an approval for
onshore wind or solar development has been issued
during the 120-day period ending on the date of the
issuance of the approval for oil or gas development;
and
(B) the Secretary of the Interior may not approve a
permit to drill on an offshore oil or gas lease on the
Outer Continental Shelf under section 2(a) of the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331(a)) unless
an approval for offshore wind development on the Outer
Continental Shelf of similar scope has been issued
during the 120-day period ending on the date of the
issuance of the approval for oil or gas development.
(2) Rules of construction.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to require the Secretary to approve applications
for a permit to drill for onshore or offshore oil or gas
development or a permit to extract coal.
(e) Timely Federal Review.--
(1) Deadlines to complete environmental reviews under
nepa.--With respect to any proposed wind, solar, storage, or
related electric transmission development on Federal land or
waters, including the Outer Continental Shelf, requiring an
environmental impact statement or environmental assessment
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Secretary shall complete such
environmental impact statement or environmental assessment
within the deadlines established under section 107(g) of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336a(g)).
(2) Deadline for determination of right-of-way.--Not later
than 180 days after completion of the environmental impact
statement or environmental assessment, as applicable, for wind,
solar, storage, or related electric transmission development on
Federal land or waters, including the Outer Continental Shelf,
the Secretary shall issue a right-of-way, except in the event
that a no action alternative is selected.
(f) Judicial Review.--
(1) Reviewability.--
(A) In general.--If a Federal agency suspends
construction or operations of a wind, solar, storage,
or related electric transmission project, or otherwise
prevents a wind, solar, storage, or related electric
transmission project from commencing and completing
construction, operation, or related ancillary
activities, including by revoking, rescinding,
withdrawing, terminating, suspending, amending,
altering, or otherwise rendering ineffective any
authorization for a project or the final environmental
document the authorization relies on, shall be
considered final agency action subject to judicial
review under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code.
(B) Venue.--A person seeking judicial review for an
action described in subparagraph (A) shall obtain
review of such action in the United States Court of
Appeals for any circuit wherein the project is located.
(2) Timing.--For any claim brought regarding an action in
paragraph (A), the court of competent jurisdiction shall issue
a decision for such challenge--
(A) as expeditiously as practicable; and
(B) not later than the date that is 30 days after
the date on which the civil action is filed, unless the
court determines that additional time is required in
the interests of justice.
(3) Applicability.--This section shall apply to any actions
in paragraph (1) that occurred after January 19, 2025.
(g) Ensuring Fairness on Federal Lands and Waters.--
(1) FLPMA amendments.--The Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 is amended--
(A) in section 103(c) (43 U.S.C. 1702(c)), by
striking ``historical values;'' and inserting
``historical values, including the generation,
transmission, and storage of renewable energy sources
such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy;''; and
(B) in section 302 (43 U.S.C. 1732), by inserting
at the end ``(e) The Secretary shall manage the public
lands to facilitate the generation, transmission, and
storage of renewable energy resources, consistent with
the principles of multiple use and sustained yield
under this Act. For the purposes of this Act, such
activities are deemed to be consistent with multiple-
use management.''.
(2) OCSLA amendments.--Section 8(p) of the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)) is amended by
striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:
``(4) Requirements.--The Secretary shall ensure that any
activity under this subsection is carried out in a manner that
provides for a balance of--
``(A) safety;
``(B) the protection of the environment;
``(C) the prevention of waste;
``(D) the conservation of the natural resources of
the outer Continental Shelf;
``(E) coordination with relevant Federal agencies
and Tribal, State, and local governments;
``(F) the protection of the national security
interests of the United States, including energy
security;
``(G) the protection of correlative rights in the
outer Continental Shelf, including the energy
generation potential of other offshore renewable energy
leases;
``(H) a fair return to the United States for any
lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection;
``(I) prevention of unreasonable interference with
other uses of the exclusive economic zone, the high
seas, and the territorial seas, as determined by the
Secretary;
``(J