Sponsors (2)
The bill trades clearer, more consistent federal definitions and greater predictability for utilities and project developers — which can speed approvals and preserve some existing generators — against a narrower, statutory definition of “clean” that may extend fossil‑fuel use, limit renewables, and reduce agency flexibility.
Utilities, project developers, and state agencies get clearer, consistent federal definitions of “reliable,” “affordable,” and “clean,” reducing planning uncertainty and helping speed federal permitting and grant decisions.
Agencies will publicly post inventories and follow‑up reports about how they apply the new definitions, increasing transparency and public accountability.
Existing nuclear plants and certain hydrocarbon-fired generators that meet air‑quality standards can be treated as “clean,” enabling continued operation or encouraging investment in those facilities.
Labeling combustion of natural gas and some other hydrocarbons as “clean,” while using only air‑quality (NAAQS) compliance as the environmental test, can prolong fossil‑fuel use and ignore upstream greenhouse‑gas emissions—undermining climate goals and long‑term public health.
The ELCC ≥60% reliability threshold and the exclusion of resource intermittency may disqualify many wind and solar resources from being treated as reliable, limiting renewable integration and potentially raising electricity costs if replacement resources are more expensive.
Rigid, statutory definitions and quick rule changes reduce agency flexibility to adapt standards to new technologies or regional system differences, risking entrenched technology‑favoritism that could disadvantage renewables in permitting and federal support.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOE, Interior, and EPA to adopt statutory definitions of affordable, reliable, and clean energy and update agency rules, grants, guidance, and policies on a set timeline.
Introduced October 17, 2025 by Troy Balderson · Last progress October 17, 2025
Requires the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt statutory definitions of “affordable,” “reliable,” and “clean” energy and to insert those definitions into agency regulations, grant programs, guidance, and policies. The law defines affordable as lowest-cost when full system costs are counted; reliable as resources with at least 60% ELCC that are not intermittent or routinely weather-impacted; and clean to include sources listed in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, nuclear power, and combustion of hydrocarbons that meet Clean Air Act air-quality standards (explicitly including natural gas). Agencies must report and post identified rules and then complete regulatory and policy updates on a 90- and 180-day schedule after enactment.