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119th CONGRESS
2d Session |
To amend the Federal Power Act with respect to the coordination of Federal authorizations for transmission facilities, and for other purposes.
Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Evans of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
To amend the Federal Power Act with respect to the coordination of Federal authorizations for transmission facilities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Certainty in Litigation for Electric Asset Reliability (CLEAR) Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. Coordination of federal authorizations for transmission facilities.
Section 216(h) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824p(h)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking “to site a transmission facility” each place it appears and inserting “to site and construct a transmission facility”;
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting “, except that the Commission shall act as the lead agency in the case of a facility to be permitted under subsection (b)” before the period at the end; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(10) PUBLICATION.—The head of each Federal agency with authority to issue a Federal authorization shall publish in the Federal Register each final agency action relating to a Federal authorization.
“(11) CONSOLIDATED RECORD.—To the extent practicable for each transmission facility for which a Federal authorization is required, the Secretary shall consolidate all records relating to review and permit decisions for all Federal authorizations for the transmission facility into a single joint record of decision.
“(12) REHEARING AND JUDICIAL REVIEW.—With respect to any transmission facility the Federal authorization and review process for which is coordinated under this subsection—
“(A) each approval of a Federal authorization for the transmission facility shall be deemed to be an order issued by the Commission for purposes of section 313;
“(B) such section shall be applied by substituting ‘the lead agency under section 216(h)’ for ‘the Commission’ each place it appears; and
“(C) notwithstanding any other provision of law providing for rehearing or judicial review of an approval of a Federal authorization, a person may obtain rehearing and judicial review of such an approval only under such section 313.”.