Sponsors (3)
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a clearinghouse for advanced transmission technology, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 18, 2026 by Craig A. Goldman · Last progress June 18, 2026
The bill offers DOE guidance, analyses, and assistance to modernize transmission and reduce wildfire risk—potentially improving reliability and facilitating renewables—while limiting federal mandates and waiving NEPA for DOE-funded deployments, which raises environmental review and cost‑shift risks for local communities and ratepayers.
Electricity consumers and grid-dependent communities could see improved grid capacity and reliability and reduced wildfire ignition risk as DOE analyzes transmission technologies and issues vegetation-management guidance.
State regulators, utilities, and transmission operators gain centralized, free access to DOE analyses, funding sources, and best-practice guidance, making planning and coordination for advanced transmission and vegetation practices easier.
Utilities and ratepayers get cost–benefit information to inform investment decisions, which can reduce costly misinvestments and help target where upgrades provide the most value.
Local communities and the environment lose a federal environmental review safeguard because DOE-funded deployments are exempted from NEPA, increasing the risk of unreviewed land‑use, habitat, and visual impacts from transmission projects.
Utilities may pass the costs of accelerated transmission deployments and recommended vegetation-management measures on to ratepayers, potentially increasing electric bills.
The bill preserves a savings clause and makes guidance voluntary, so DOE or FERC cannot compel technology or practice adoption — adoption may be uneven, enforcement gaps may persist, and regional fragmentation of standards could continue.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOE clearinghouse and assistance for advanced transmission tech, requires State plans to support deployment, sets wildfire-ignition-reduction best practices, and prevents federal compulsion.
Creates a publicly accessible DOE clearinghouse and technical-assistance program to promote deployment of advanced electric transmission technologies, requires State energy conservation plans to include programs to facilitate those deployments, and treats DOE loans or grants for such deployment as not a "major Federal action" under NEPA. Also directs the Secretary of Energy to issue wildfire-ignition-reduction best practices for transmission owners and operators within one year, addressing vegetation management, engineering, and operational practices, while clarifying that neither DOE nor FERC may force utilities to adopt the technologies or practices.