[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1222 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1222

   To amend the Federal Power Act to provide for reports relating to 
   electric capacity resources of transmission organizations and the 
  amendment of certain tariffs to address the procurement of electric 
              capacity resources, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2015

 Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Federal Power Act to provide for reports relating to 
   electric capacity resources of transmission organizations and the 
  amendment of certain tariffs to address the procurement of electric 
              capacity resources, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Continuity of Electric Capacity 
Resources Act''.

SEC. 2. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF ELECTRIC CAPACITY 
              RESOURCES.

    Title II of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 224. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF ELECTRIC CAPACITY 
              RESOURCES.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this subsection:
            ``(1) Bulk-power system; transmission organization.--The 
        terms `bulk-power system' and `transmission organization' have 
        the meaning given the terms in section 215.
            ``(2) Electric capacity resource.--The term `electric 
        capacity resource' means an electric generating resource, as 
        measured by the maximum load-carrying ability of the resource, 
        exclusive of station use and planned, unplanned, or other 
        outage or derating.
            ``(3) Regional reliability coordinator.--The term `regional 
        reliability coordinator' has the meaning given the term 
        `reliability coordinator' (as defined by the Electric 
        Reliability Organization).
    ``(b) Electric Capacity Resources Report.--
            ``(1) Notice.--Not later than 14 days after the date of 
        enactment of this section, the Commission shall submit to each 
        transmission organization with a tariff on file with the 
        Commission that includes provisions addressing the procurement 
        of electric capacity resources notice that the transmission 
        organization is required to file with the Commission a report 
        in accordance with paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on 
        which a transmission organization receives a notice under 
        paragraph (1), the transmission organization shall submit to 
        the Commission a report that--
                    ``(A)(i) identifies electric capacity resources 
                that are available to the transmission organization as 
                of the date of the report; and
                    ``(ii) describes the fuel sources and operational 
                characteristics of each electric capacity resource 
                identified under clause (i);
                    ``(B) evaluates, using generally accepted metrics, 
                the financial health, viability, and projected 
                remaining years of service of the available electric 
                capacity resources identified under subparagraph 
                (A)(i);
                    ``(C) identifies--
                            ``(i) over the short- and long-term periods 
                        in the planning cycle of the transmission 
                        organization, announced and projected 
                        retirements of the available electric capacity 
                        resources;
                            ``(ii) the projected future needs of the 
                        transmission organization for electric capacity 
                        resources; and
                            ``(iii) the availability of transmission 
                        facilities and transmission support services 
                        necessary to provide for the transmission 
                        organization reasonable assurances of essential 
                        reliability services, including adequate 
                        voltage support;
                    ``(D) assesses the current and projected status of 
                the reliability of the elements of the bulk-power 
                system under the control of the transmission 
                organization, over the short- and long-term periods in 
                the planning cycle of the transmission organization 
                (including the current and projected status of electric 
                capacity resources), as determined by the regional 
                reliability coordinator that has been designated by the 
                Electric Reliability Organization to have oversight 
                over the bulk-power system elements under the control 
                of the transmission organization; and
                    ``(E) prior to the submission of the report, has 
                been made available to members of the transmission 
                organization and to the public for comment.
    ``(c) Tariff Amendments.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        on which the Commission receives a report submitted under 
        subsection (b), the transmission organization that submitted 
        the report shall file with the Commission--
                    ``(A) 1 or more tariff amendments that would 
                achieve each of the objectives described in paragraph 
                (2) with respect to the transmission organization; and
                    ``(B) supporting information that demonstrates the 
                manner in which the amendments would achieve each of 
                those objectives, taking into account the report 
                submitted under subsection (b)(2).
            ``(2) Objectives.--The objectives referred to in paragraph 
        (1) are the following:
                    ``(A) A diverse generation portfolio and the 
                availability of transmission facilities and 
                transmission support services necessary to provide 
                reasonable assurances of a continuous supply of 
                electricity for customers of the transmission 
                organization at the proper voltage and frequency.
                    ``(B) An enhanced opportunity for self-supply of 
                electric capacity resources by electric cooperatives, 
                Federal power marketing agencies, and State utilities 
                with a service obligation (as those terms are defined 
                in section 217(a)), with the term `self-supply' to be 
                defined in the supporting information filed under 
                paragraph (1).
                    ``(C) A reasonable assurance of short- and long-
                term reliability, with the terms `short-term 
                reliability' and `long-term reliability' to be defined 
                by the applicable regional reliability coordinator 
                referred to in subsection (b)(2)(D).
                    ``(D) A reasonable likelihood of prudent investment 
                in, and adequate fuel supply for, existing and future 
                electric capacity resources over the short- and long-
                term periods in the planning cycle identified in the 
                applicable report submitted under subsection (b)(2).''.

SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT UNDER AN AUTHORIZATION DURING WAR OR 
              EMERGENCY.

    Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824a(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``(c) During'' and 
        inserting the following:
    ``(c) Authorization During War or Emergency.--
            ``(1) In general.--During''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) No liability.--Any person subject to an order issued 
        under this subsection shall not be liable for actions carried 
        out in compliance with the order.''.
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