Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) despatched a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chair Willie L. Phillips and the opposite Commissioners concerning the threats to the reliability of the electrical grid if the Lower Snake River dams have been breached and whether or not FERC was concerned in President Biden’s efforts to breach the Lower Snake River dams.
KEY QUOTE:
“We are involved that the Biden administration failed to contemplate the influence of dam breaches on electrical reliability when conducting its secret negotiations. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ought to have been concerned in these discussions with a view to guarantee misguided insurance policies don’t additional undermine grid reliability. The Lower Snake River dams present over 3,000 MW of inexpensive nameplate capability that communities within the western United States rely upon for reliability and useful resource adequacy.
“As famous in responses to our letter dated December 29, 2023, Chairman Phillips said that ‘we can’t, as a rustic, afford to retire assets on which we rely for reliability with out making certain that they’re changed with adequate assets to fulfill useful resource adequacy and different system wants.’ This contains the inexpensive, dispatchable, and renewable hydroelectric dams within the Columbia River Basin that tens of millions of Americans rely upon for reliability. In reality, throughout essentially the most recent chilly snap within the Pacific Northwest, federal dams, together with the Lower Snake River dams, ‘have been important to protecting the lights on’ by producing over 1,000 MW of electrical energy every day to assist BPA and the area meet excessive calls for.
BACKGROUND:
- Dams alongside the Columbia Snake River system present multiple third of all of the hydropower capability within the United States. In Washinton State, hydropower accounts for 70 % of the electrical energy consumed.
- The dams helped remodel Eastern Washington into one of the vital productive agricultural areas on the planet—over $3 billion value of cargo is shipped on the Columbia Snake River System yearly, together with 40 % of America’s wheat.
- Despite the significance of the dams, the Biden administration has been main secret negotiations with different federal businesses in an try and breach the Lower Snake River dams. In the method, they’ve ignored the considerations of people that stay within the Pacific Northwest and who could be considerably impacted if these dams have been breached.
Members requested Chair Phillips to reply the next questions by March 6, 2024:
- Was FERC consulted as a part of the Columbia River Basin negotiations to look at or clarify the impacts on electrical reliability referring to the commitments contained within the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)? Was FERC included in these negotiations in any capability to evaluate the impacts to affordability, reliability, and useful resource adequacy within the western United States? Please describe any communications you’ve got had with BPA, CEQ, the White House, or some other federal entity throughout the Columbia River Basin negotiation course of.
- Will FERC coordinate with different Federal entities, like BPA and the administration, to look at the reliability impacts of the potential lack of dispatchable, clear, renewable hydroelectric energy within the west because the MOU is carried out?
- How does FERC contemplate the detrimental impacts of insurance policies that displace dependable technology when fulfilling its mission to safeguard reliability? How is FERC assessing the cumulative results of state insurance policies that influence wholesale system spanning a number of states and whole interconnections?
- On January 30, 2024, Mr. Jeremiah Baumann from the Department of Energy (DOE) testified earlier than the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security listening to. During the listening to, Mr. Baumann was requested about changing the electrical technology that will be misplaced if the 4 Lower Snake River dams have been breached. Mr. Baumann stated “[Y]ou can use sort of existing off-the-shelf emissions-free technology like wind, solar, and current batteries for a big chunk, but then for the last bit, you really do need other technologies like hydrogen, something that is going to be that 24./7 dispatchable piece, and right now those are very expensive and hard to develop.” Do you agree with DOE’s evaluation of the necessity for dispatchable substitute capability if the Lower Snake River dams are breached? What cost-effective and commercially available expertise could be essentially the most environment friendly dispatchable substitute for the Lower Snake River dams?
- The Columbia River Basin MOU describes a number of substitute power assets for the hydroelectricity from the dams, together with distributed power assets, effectivity measures, demand response, and different technology, storage, and transmission assets. Do you contemplate these satisfactory replacements for the over 3,000 MW of dispatchable nameplate capability from the Lower Snake River dams? What amount, in MW, of distributed power assets, effectivity measures, demand response, and different technology is required to switch the capability, power, and important reliability providers supplied by the dams? Can these substitute assets present comparable high quality and amount of those providers? What impact will this have on power costs and capability contracts for customers within the area? Would you contemplate the overall prices for substitute assets simply and affordable when they’re increased than they in any other case could be with these dispatchable assets nonetheless in service? How will the lack of the dams and the traits of the proposed substitute assets have an effect on system capabilities wants, particularly throughout peak intervals?
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