By RAELYNN RICARTE
THE CENTER SQUARE
(The Center Square) – Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, is leading a group of GOP leaders demanding to know what plans the Biden administration has to prevent electricity blackouts that are predicted for this summer.
Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In that capacity, she authored two letters this week that were signed by 25 other Republicans.
The duplicate letters have been sent to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Richard Glick, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The letters demand information by June 21 about what steps Ms. Granholm and FERC are taking to keep lights and air conditioners on across American during the summer heat.
“These reliability risks have been unfolding in plain sight, yet we have seen little concerted effort during the Biden administration to address relevant policies that contribute to these risks—policies relating to the delivery of energy fuels, market-design issues, environmental agendas, and regulations that threaten power generation,” state the letters dated June 6.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned in late May that parts of the U.S. face the possibility of blackout in the coming weeks.
Devin Hartman, director of energy and environmental policy for the R Street Institute and a former NERC advisor, described the risk for the grid failure for Washington and the West coast to The Center Square as “unlikely, but not trivial.”
NERC expects the electricity shortfall to be worse for customers living in a large region in the middle of the nation, extending from Wisconsin to Louisiana, with an increased risk to the grid during the times of extreme weather in both the late summer and winter.
“Blackouts are life threatening and extremely dangerous,” Ms. McMorris Rodgers told FOX News on Tuesday. “President Biden, the Department of Energy, and FERC must take these threats and their responsibility to ensure reliable and affordable energy seriously.”
She said the president and his advisors are embracing a green agenda that is shutting down American energy. She said this agenda is leaving the nation dependent upon intermittent and unreliable sources that strain the electrical grid.
“People are suffering enough from record high and unaffordable costs created by President Biden’s energy crisis,” Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers told FOX. “They deserve and need every assurance their lights and air conditioning will come on this summer to keep themselves and their families safe.”
The GOP letter dated June 6 asks Ms. Granholm and Mr. Glick if their respective officers are interacting with the Environmental Protection Agency on changes to rulemaking and enforcement that could affect the electrical grid.
They are asked to describe their communication with other agencies, states, NERC and independent system operators about ensuring reliability in power delivery.
In addition, they are asked to list all potential and proposed rules they have provided comment on with regard to electricity generation. And any enforcement actions related to the grid that they have provided feedback on.
The federal officials are also asked to list all waivers or other emergency actions they have taken in the past two years in connection with electricity reliability.
