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WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing titled  Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability . Subcommittee Chairman Latta’s opening statement as prepared for delivery: “Welcome to today’s hearing ‘Keeping the Lights on: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability.’ “Today, we will continue this subcommittee’s work to address the ongoing electric reliability crisis facing our nation. “The witnesses before us are each of the regional grid operators, and ERCOT, who collectively cover two thirds of our country.  “These organizations are charged with overseeing reliability of their state or region, administering markets for the sale and purchase of electricity products, and coordinating transmission development.  “While each grid operator functions in a similar manner, they all take unique approaches to addressing the regional and demographic differences of communities in their footprints.  “But no matter where in the country they serve, they are all confronting the challenges facing our power sector.  “It’s no secret that our country is in the midst of a reliability crisis, and it could not come at a worse time.  “The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, recently stated that 52 GW of generation will retire in the next four years. “To put this into context, that is the rough equivalent of 40 nuclear plants or 500 square miles of solar panels. “While dangerous amounts of baseload generation are leaving the grid, we’re witnessing historic levels of demand entering the system and interconnection queues that are backlogged with intermittent resources and battery storage facilities.  “We know that renewables are not a one-for-one replacement for dispatchable, baseload power that is essential to reliability and provides spinning reserves needed to stabilize the system through fluctuations.  “It is not clear that the pace at which baseload generation is coming online will bridge the gap of retiring supply and meet increasing demands over the next few short years.  “As we are all well aware, these new demands are largely driven by developments in artificial intelligence and domestic manufacturing. “Achieving a leadership position in the development of AI and reshoring domestic manufacturing is not an unattainable goal to strive for – it is a national security imperative that could shape America’s place in the future global economy.  “Regional grid operators before us today are on the front lines of the reliability crisis and this new era of historic electricity demand. “When operating correctly, electricity markets should allow clear market signals to drive investment into new generation, efficient interconnection of new resources should address increasing demand, and coordinated transmission planning should bring needed electricity supplies to growing load centers.  “However, these organizations and their electricity markets do not operate in a vacuum.  “Excessive federal overreach, like the Clean Power Plan 2.0, drove significant premature retirements of baseload power and discouraged long-term investment into baseload generation sources.  “Significant subsidies for intermittent generation undermine the economics of baseload, or on-demand, dispatchable, generation resources that are essential to keeping the lights on.  “These grid operators are also tasked with the difficult job of maintaining reliability and resource adequacy as States implement restrictive policies designed to attack fossil resources.  “Because of the interconnected nature of much of our bulk power system, the decisions of one State to drive out baseload power inherently impact the reliability of neighboring states.  “All of these problems are compounded by systemic permitting challenges that make it nearly impossible to develop new infrastructure in large parts of our country.  “Markets cannot build what governments do not let them.  “We need to address these challenges through a pragmatic whole of government approach that recognizes the benefits of different fuel sources, the limitation of others, and prioritizes energy expansion. “There is value to ensuring a diverse resource mix, but it is important to recognize that not all electrons should be treated equally.  “The variability of intermittent sources like wind and solar innately require back up generation during inclement weather conditions and where battery storage facilities are operationally restricted.  “Often it is during these periods of inclement weather when we need electricity the most to protect the health and safety of our communities.  “I look forward to today’s discussion regarding the ongoing reliability crisis and the important steps regional grid operators are taking to correct market inefficiencies to keep the lights on for all Americans.  “Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time.”  ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, released the following joint statement alongside House Republican Leadership and the Committee Chairmen with jurisdiction in the budget reconciliation process. “House Republicans took the lead and passed a bill to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. Now, our focus returns to delivering President Trump’s full America First agenda.  “The House is determined to send the president one big, beautiful bill that secures our border, keeps taxes low for families and job creators, grows our economy, restores American energy dominance, brings back peace through strength, and makes government more efficient and more accountable to the American people. “We took the first step to accomplish that by passing a budget resolution weeks ago, and we look forward to the Senate joining us in this commitment to ensure we enact President Trump’s full agenda as quickly as possible. The American people gave us a mandate and we must act on it. We encourage our Senate colleagues to take up the House budget resolution when they return to Washington. “This is our opportunity to deliver what will be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in the history of our nation. Working together, we will get it done.” Joint Statement Attributable to the Following Members: Congressman Mike Johnson (LA-04), Speaker of the House Congressman Steve Scalise (LA-01), House Majority Leader Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06), House Majority Whip Congresswoman Lisa McClain (MI-09), House Republican Conference Chairwoman Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-15), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-03), Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19), Chairman of the House Committee on Budget Congressman Tim Walberg (MI-05), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Congressman French Hill (AR-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR-04), Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources Congressman James Comer (KY-01), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Congressman Jason Smith (MO-08), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, announced a hearing titled The World Wild Web: Examining Harms Online . “Our increasingly digital world continually presents new threats and challenges, especially to our children. Congress must continue to address risks facing the most vulnerable and take steps to help ensure they are not being exploited by bad actors online,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis. “We are looking forward to this important discussion and hope this leads to bipartisan consensus around legislation to protect Americans, including our children, from threats in the online world.”     Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing titled The World Wild Web: Examining Harms Online     WHAT : Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade hearing on online dangers to children.     DATE : Wednesday, March 26, 2025  TIME : 10:00 AM ET LOCATION : 2123 Rayburn House Office Building  This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov . If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Alex Khlopin at Alex.Khlopin@mail.house.gov . If you have any press-related questions, please contact Daniel Kelly at Daniel.Kelly@mail.house.gov .  ### 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, announced a hearing titled Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability . “The continued safety and reliability of our electric grid is essential to supporting small businesses, manufacturing processes, the agriculture industry, hospitals, and homes across the United States. Numerous electric-generating facilities have been prematurely retired in recent years, making it critical that we look for solutions to once again harness and expand the baseload power our communities rely on as new and emerging technologies increase the need,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Latta. “During this hearing, we will have the opportunity to hear from our nation’s regional grid operators and to discuss how we can meet the growing demand for power, the need to secure it, and address the reliability challenges confronting our electric industry.”  Subcommittee on Energy hearing titled Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability.   WHAT : Subcommittee on Energy hearing examining how the nation’s regional grid operators plan to address grid reliability challenges, as demand for power increases across the nation. DATE : Tuesday, March 25, 2025        TIME : 10:15 AM ET LOCATION : 2123 Rayburn House Office Building   This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov . If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Calvin Huggins at Calvin.Huggins1@mail.house.gov . If you have any press-related questions, please contact Ben Mullany at Ben.Mullany@mail.house.gov .   ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce released the following statement after President Donald Trump signed H.J. Res. 35 into law, repealing the Biden-Harris Administration’s natural gas tax. “The signing of H.J. Res. 35 is a victory for the American businesses and families who would have been forced to bear the cost of the Biden-Harris Administration’s natural gas tax,” said Chairman Guthrie. “It’s time to restore American energy dominance by harnessing innovation and producing the natural gas needed to support our electric grid. Thank you to Congressman August Pfluger for his tireless advocacy for American energy, and for his work to see this legislation signed into law.” ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing titled  Maximizing Opportunities for Redeveloping Brownfields Sites: Assessing the Potential for New American Innovation. Subcommittee Chairman Griffith's opening statement as prepared for delivery: "Today, this Subcommittee will examine the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields grant program.  "Brownfields are generally described as properties that contain or may contain a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, which in turn complicates efforts to expand, redevelop, or reuse the site.  "Often, these contaminated sites are not redeveloped, because prospective new owners are worried about becoming responsible for potential liability as the original company that is liable for the contamination no longer exists. "Through this program, EPA provides grant funding to states, Tribes, economic development agencies, and other entities who are then able to study the extent of contamination, clean up the site, and find a way to redevelop it. "Since 1993, EPA has administered efforts to clean up these sites. Congress first formally established the Brownfields program in the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, and codified it under the Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. "The brownfields program has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, and the last statutory authorization expired last September, at the end of Fiscal Year 2023.  "Reauthorizing this program will provide us with an opportunity to examine the program and find out what aspects are working well and what aspects need improvement. I believe taking testimony from our witnesses today will help us to inform our efforts.  "Additionally, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided an unprecedented supplemental appropriation of $1.5 billion for brownfields. The awards funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act were exempted from some of the traditional statutory limitations, such as certain maximum grant amounts and state and local cost share requirements. We will need to examine these changes and understand their advantages and disadvantages. "EPA estimates there are more than 450,000 brownfields properties in the United States. This amounts to a lot of unused or underutilized land with economic potential. "Broadly we also know that we will need additional infrastructure and facilities to support our growing economy and process the materials and components needed for new innovative technologies.  "The Brownfields program may also be a good tool to help secure American leadership in emerging industries and traditional manufacturing.  "For example, ABI Research, an industry analysis firm, estimates that by the end of 2025, there will be over 6,000 data centers built worldwide as artificial intelligence continues to take off. "Over the next five years, our country’s electricity demand is expected to grow by almost 16 percent. This growing demand will entail construction of additional energy resources. "So, today we will examine opportunities to bring those industries to Brownfields sites in our communities and explore existing barriers to putting these sites to good use. "In my district in Southwest Virginia, counties, state agencies, regional organizations, and public-private partnerships have already been hard at work revitalizing former mine land for economic development. "I hope we can learn more today about how the Brownfields Program can support these endeavors and similar ones around the country.  "Thank you to our witnesses for being here and contributing to these efforts.  "First, we have the Honorable Jim Connaughton, Chief Executive Officer of James L. ConnaughtonStrategies where he works on sustainable technology innovation and public policy.  "Mr. Connaughton recently served as CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies, a company producing data center components with minimal environmental impacts. He also served as Chairman of the White House Counsel on Environmental Quality under President Bush.  "As you all know, this Committee has been engaged in robust discussion over the past few years on ways to improve the permitting process generally, so we welcome his extensive experience in this area. "We also welcome back Mayor Christian Bollwagefrom the City of Elizabeth, New Jersey.  "The Committee greatly appreciates him lending his knowledge and expertise to our efforts to reauthorize the Brownfields Program. "We will also hear from Christa Stoneham, President and CEO of the Houston Land Bank. Thank you for being here to share your insights on the program and efforts to revitalize the areas your organization serves.  "Last but not least, I am excited to welcome my constituent Duane Miller, Executive Director of the LENOWISCO Planning District Commission. My staff and I have had the privilege of working with the Commission for years. They’ve played an integral role in attracting emerging industries to our region, creating jobs, and cleaning up abandoned sites in Southwest Virginia. "Thank you all for being here, and I look forward to a good discussion. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Mr. Tonko, for his opening statement."  ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment held a hearing titled Maximizing Opportunities for Redeveloping Brownfields Sites: Assessing the Potential for New American Innovation . “The Brownfields Program supports communities impacted by prior industrial activity, offering them a new opportunity to spur growth and innovation. As the program continues to work to clean up areas that have been contaminated, we can leverage these sites to construct, among other things, data centers critical to advancing Artificial Intelligence,” said Chairman Griffith. “Today's hearing was an important step toward ensuring that the Brownfields Program continues to serve the American people by assessing and cleaning up potential contamination and supporting new and emerging industries.” Watch the full hearing here . Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing: Representative Bob Latta (OH-05): “What do we need to be doing on permitting to move things along and get things moving faster? This a great thing about this Committee, the broad jurisdiction we have. I've never heard anybody ever testify before saying that they're against our regulations. Just give us regulations so we can live with. But what do you see on the permitting side that we ought to be doing right now?”  Hon. James L. Connaughton: “You know, what's interesting is we had all the big infrastructure projects, data centers, semiconductors, by the way, even shipbuilding. They actually don't have a big outward environmental footprint. There's a lot of things to comply with, OK, but all the methods of controlling to prevent environmental contamination are well known and in place. And so, if we could simply change the default to yes. With inspection and enforcement of noncompliance, which almost never occurs, that solves the problem. And you do it in site assessment, you do it in permitting, and you do it with interconnection. You have to create an automated system.” Representative John Joyce (PA-13): “In Pennsylvania, we are proud of our industries. The coal, the steel, and allied industries that were mined and forged in our cities and in our towns. Sadly, many of these legacy industries have fallen on hard times and gone out of business, leaving behind land in need of environmental cleanup and communities with limited resources. to invest in that necessary redevelopment. This is where EPA's Brownfields Program has been useful to ensure that these are areas that are not left behind, and economic development can occur. Across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, counties like Cambria and Blair have used brownfields to leverage public and private funding to create family sustaining jobs. This program is a great example of how instead of federal government getting in the way with burdensome regulations, it can work with local stakeholders to spur lasting redevelopment.” Representative August Pfluger (TX-11): “I represent a very rural district but one that has a tremendous amount of energy. One that could benefit very greatly, but we see more of an urge to show some or to do urban projects rather than rural. So maybe talk to me a little bit about some of the barriers that have impacted us in the rural community.” Mr. Duane Miller: “I'm a big believer in our rural areas. We kind of view them as a blank canvas… I really think a concise effort should be put on the recruitment of data centers to rural areas through this brownfield funding.” ###

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled Fixing Biden’s Broadband Blunder . “I hope this new Congress and the urgency of this moment will inspire bipartisan cooperation on this effort. We must do everything we can to remove these unnecessary barriers to deployment,” said Chairman Hudson. “Unserved Americans have waited too long for the promise of connectivity. But now is the moment to close the digital divide once and for all.” Watch the full hearing here . Below are key excerpts from yesterday's hearing: Representative Neal Dunn (FL-02): “We spent 65 billion in the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act, the IIJA, to support broadband activities, and we have nothing to show for it. We have a poster that shows how much money was put into a number of these different programs – not all of them, just some of the bigger ones. In fact, they’re over 130 programs in total.” Representative Buddy Carter (GA-01): “Let’s face it, the past 4 years under the Biden Harris administration has been nothing short of a disaster for broadband deployment and expansion to America, and it’s because of the permitting process. Permitting delays have, have resulted in And, and, and the can and halting the construction of Bo band infrastructure, even in my own district of, of Georgia in the first congressional district.” Representative Erin Houchin (IN-09): “Back in the Indiana State Senate, I worked on broadband legislation trying to get access to unserved areas. As noted in some of your testimonies, we have seen overbuilding technologies that are picking winners and losers in some of these funding opportunities. One of the things that I wanted to do is make sure that any broadband that was deployed went to areas that had zero access first and then we would build to uh toward higher speeds.” ###

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Yesterday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing titled  Scaling for Growth: Meeting Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity. “In the coming years, it’s critical we produce the power needed to meet the demands of the electric grid, while also powering the data centers that are being built to support the critical advancement of AI technology,”   said Chairman Latta.   “During yesterday's Energy Subcommittee hearing, we discussed ways to increase baseload power generation, support our grid, and ensure the availability of affordable and reliable energy for American households and small businesses.”  Watch the full hearing  here .  Below are key excerpts from yesterday's hearing: Representative Rick Allen (GA-12):   “The United States has an abundant energy supply, and the question is not, do we have enough energy resources, but can we produce energy at the levels needed to meet the nation's future demand? My state of Georgia, the top state to do business in 12 years in a row, and with that new manufacturing and data centers are coming to the state. This is leading to high demand for the grid, and we must continue to ensure we can provide reliable, affordable energy as we power our nation's needs. In my district, the 12th District of Georgia, we have plant Vogel, the largest nuclear energy clean power station in the country. Nuclear injury will play a critical role in meeting our growing needs to ensure US leadership in the next generation economy .” Representative Troy Balderson (OH-12):  “It's been talked a little bit about here this morning. PJM's existing installed capacity mix is overwhelmingly made up of dispatchable power generation, such as natural gas, nuclear and coal. However, 97% of PGM's queue capacity comes from renewable generation. Mr. Haque, in, your testimony, you note that unlike traditional thermal generation renewable resources do not provide certain essential reliability services that are necessary to balance and maintain the power grid. Do you have any concerns with the lack of dispatchable power generation entering PJM's interconnection queue and are there enough of these projects to offset premature retirements and meet rising growth demand? ” Mr. Haque:  “Thank you, Representative. Great to see you. We certainly have concern with not having dispatchable resources in the generation interconnection queue and the grid is a machine and it is a machine governed by the laws of physics. North American Electric Reliability Corporation, has published papers and published analyses that say that we need essential reliability services. Which are things like control, ramp and voltage and things that as a lawyer, I don't quite understand, but that are necessary. So, we do need our spinning mass resources. We do need our thermal resources, nuclear, coal, gas to continue to run a power grid the size of PJM interconnection. Having said all that, we need these dispatchable resources to find their way in the system. We can integrate more renewables onto our system.” Representative Julie Fedorchak (ND-AL):   “Mr. Brickhouse, you're seeing significant demand increase. Do you expect that you can meet that demand with renewables alone?  Mr. Brickhouse: “No.” Representative Fedorchak:   “How about you, Mr. Black?” Mr. Black:   “No, not renewables alone.” ###