ELECTRIC POWER RELIABILITY-1969-1970 WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1969 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND POWER, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 9 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2133, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Torbert H. Macdonald (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. MACDONALD. The committee will come to order. This morning the Subcommittee on Communications and Power resumes hearings on the problem of electric power reliability and coordination. From March 25 through 28, we held hearings on this problem. Those hearings were interrupted by the news of the death of General Eisenhower. When the news came, the subcommittee was hearing testimony from a panel of witnesses and it was agreed to leave that testimony and questioning unfinished, to be resumed at a later date. The appearance of Chairman White here this morning represents an appropriate continuation of the committee's consideration of electric power reliability and coordination, but is not meant to indicate that witnesses who were scheduled at the earlier hearings are to be foreclosed from an opportunity to complete their testimony. Our purpose this morning is to hear testimony from the Honorable Lee C. White, Chairman of the Federal Power Commission, with respect to H.R. 12585-the Electric Power Coordination Act of 1969. I introduced this bill, which was submitted to the Congress by Chairman White and Commissioner O'Connor on July 2 of this year. (The text of H.R. 12585 follows:) [H.R. 12585, 91st Cong., 1st sess., introduced by Mr. Macdonald on July 2, 1969] A BILL To secure bulk power supplies adequate to satisfy the mounting demands of the people of the United States, consistent with environmental protection Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Electric Power Coordination Act of 1969." Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. 5. Standards of service. (b) Proposal and publication of standards. (d) Failure to propose standards. (e) Compliance with standards. (f) Commission consideration of standards. 6. Long-range regional planning. (a) Continuous planning. (b) Planning objectives. (c) Planning status reports to the public. (d) Commission publication and comment. (e) Characteristics of transmission networks. (f) Access to ransmission network. 7. Particular bulk power supply facilities: timely disclosure and certification. (b) Disclosure of detailed routing, siting and construction plans. (c) Options purchased prior to disclosure. (d) State joint board information hearings. (e) Commission comments. (f) Certification of compliance with other laws and requirements. (h) Noncompliance. (1) Right to construct, eminent domain and use of Federal land. 8. Temporary waiver of formal proceedings to facilitate essential construction. (b) Authorization to construct facilities. (c) Removal of facilities. 9. Eminent domain. Sec. 10. Rights-of-way or sites on Federal lands. Sec. 11. Regional councils. (a) Electric utility membership and participation. (e) Filing of statements of organization. (d) Review of statements of organization. (e) Refusal to participate. (f) Applicability of antitrust laws. Sec. 12. Environmental advice. Sec. 14. Rules, regulations and orders. Sec. 15. Investigations and hearings. Sec. 16. Rehearing; court review of orders. Sec. 17. Enforcement of Act, regulations, orders and undertakings; penalties. FINDINGS SEC. 2. The Congress hereby finds and declares that— (1) an adequate bulk power supply is important to the national defense. the commercial life of the country, and the general welfare of the people of the United States; (2) adequacy of bulk power supply embraces both sufficient electric generation and transmission capacity and the reliability and quality of bulk power service; (3) primary responsibility for adequacy of bulk power supply should continue to rest with the electric utility industry; (4) the rapidly growing demands for power, the increase in the size and complexity of generation and transmission facilities, and the rapidly advancing technology of the electric utility industry require intensive re gional and interregional coordination in the generation and transmission of electricity by all segments of the electric utility industry whether privately or publicly owned; (5) given the pluralism of the electric utility industry and the large number of utilities, it is in the public interest to recognize or secure the establishment of regional councils, in which all electric utilities may par ticipate, and a national, interregional council to facilitate agreement upon standards and guidelines as to the adequacy of bulk power supply, the coordination of existing operations, and future planning and construction: (6) the public interest requires that uitlity managements recognize their joint, cooperative responsibility to assure an abundant supply of electric energy to satisfy public demands with the greatest possible econ omy and with regard to the proper utilization and conservation of natural resources; (7) all electric utilities and their customers should have access to the benefits of coordination and advancing technology, including advances in nuclear technology financed by the taxpayers of this country and economies of scale, on fair and reasonable terms, including access by means of capacity sharing, staggered construction, coordination of facilities and reserves, wheeling, displacement transactions and other exchanges; (8) major bulk power supply facilities should be accommodated to the important national goals of preservation and enhancement of the environment, the conservation of natural resources, and the strengthening of longrange land-use planning; (9) special effort should be made to preserve the natural beauty of the countryside and public park and recreation lands, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and historic sites in accordance with the national policy stated in section 18 of the Federal Highway Act of 1968 (82 Stat. 815, 823; Public Law 90-495); (10) since the major bulk power supply facilities are vital instrumentalities of interstate commerce, overall planning standards, long-range plans and particular construction projects should be disclosed to the public and reviewed by appropriate Federal, State, and local regulatory and planning agencies; (11) new avenues of intergovernmental cooperation should be developed and utilized in the administration of this Act, engaging Federal, State, and local agencies to facilitate such reviews, including procedures for consultation with conservation and consumer councils; and (12) the timely construction of essential bulk power facilities should be assured in order to avoid shortages threatening the bulk power supply of this country. SEC. 3. When used in this Act DEFINITIONS (1) "electric utility" means any person, including large or small entities, whose functions include the sale of electricity; (2) "person" means a "person", "municipality", or a "State", as defined in section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796), and any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States. The term includes privately, cooperatively, federally, and other publicly owned persons; (3) "extra-high-voltage transmission facilities" or "EHV facilities" means transmission lines and associated facilities designed to be capable of being operated at a nominal voltage higher than two hundred kilovolts between phase conductors for alternating current or between poles for direct current ; (4) "thermal plant" means thermal generating unit or plant and associated facilities designed to be or capable of being operated at a capacity of two hundred megawatts or more; (5) "bulk power supply facilities" means EHV facilities, thermal plants and any other facilities for the generation or transmission of electricity (as contrasted with distribution) which have a significant effect upon the adequacy of electric service in the region; (6) "Commission" means the Federal Power Commission; (7) "State commission" means the regulatory body of the State having jurisdiction to regulate rates and charges for the sale of electricity or, if no such regulatory body exists, the Governor of the State or his designee; and (8) "national organization of the State commissions" means the national organization of the State commissions referred to in sections 202 (b) and 205(f) of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended. REGIONAL AND INTERREGIONAL COORDINATION SEC. 4. (a) REGIONAL COUNCILS.-Subject to compliance with the provisions f section 11 of this Act, the Commission shall recognize existing regional councils secure the establishment of appropriate regional coordination organizations hereafter “regional councils"), to carry out regional and interregional coordiation, with participation by all-segments of the electric utility industry in the egion. (b) STATE COMMISSIONS AND STATE JOINT BOARDS.-The purposes of this Act all be achieved as far as possible through consultative processes and in parcular through intergovernmental cooperation. Whenever this Act requires submission to the Commission of statements, standards, reports, plans, or proposals to construct bulk power supply facilities, the regional council or electric utility shall also submit copies to the affected State commissions. Timely com ments of any affected State commission shall be entitled to be issued, appended, responded to and published in the same manner and to the same extent as Commission comments. The Commission may refer any matter arising in the adminis tration of this Act to a State joint board convened pursuant to section 209 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824h). If a State joint board shall fail to administer a matter referred to it within a reasonable time, such matter shall be administered by the Commission. The Commission shall seek the advice of the national organization of the State commissions as to appropriate classes of matters for referral. (c) NATIONAL ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COUNCIL.-The Commission shall recognize a national council consisting of representatives of the regional councils to facilitate interregional exchange of views and to coordinate electric utility efforts in planning and operating bulk power facilities. The national council shall also seek to stimulate vigorous scientific and engineering interest in achieving the purposes of this Act and develop a coordinated program of research. The Commission shall request the existing National Electric Reliability Council to undertake these responsibilities. Representatives of interested Federal and State departments and agencies shall be permitted to participate as non-voting members in the work of the council. (d) NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE COMMISSIONS.-The Commission shall consult with the national organization of the State commissions in the development of procedures required by this Act. (e) ADVISORY PANEL ON THE ENVIRONMENT.-The Commission shall consult with the Advisory Panel on the Environment (hereafter "Advisory Panel"), established pursuant to section 12 of this Act, in the development of procedures required by this Act. (f) PUBLIC NOTICE AND PARTICIPATION.-Whenever this Act requires notice, the Commission shall afford public notice by appropriate means including, without limitation, publication in the Federal Register and mailing to interested conservation and consumer groups and other interested persons, and any interested person shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to submit written comments. STANDARDS OF SERVICE SEC. 5 (a) SCOPE OF SECTION.-This section concerns standards to guide each electric utility operating bulk power facilities in a region for the coordi nation, planning, and operation of such facilities in the interest of providing adequate service. (b) PROPOSAL AND PUBLICATION OF STANDARDS.-Within one year from the enactment of this Act, and at succeeding intervals of not more than two years, each regional council shall propose standards or amendments to its standards and for ward copies thereof for comment to the Commission, every State commission in the region, and the National Electric Reliability Council. The Commission shall give notice of the proposed standards and shall invite comments of interested parties. Following receipt of comments and after informal meetings with the regional council and the affected State commissions to resolve differences of views, the Commission shall publish the regional council standards, including such modifications as the regional council may agree to adopt, and shall append thereto comments of the Commission on any aspects of the standards which it considers are deficient. (c) SCOPE OF STANDARDS.-The standards of each regional council shall include, but not be limited to, standards with respect to— (i) load forecasting; (ii) installed reserves; (iii) spinning reserves; (iv) system stability studies; (v) system stability requirements in severe contingencies; (vi) emergency load shedding preparedness; and (vii) such further matters as the Commission determines and specifies are necessary to be the subject of regional council standards in the interests of adequacy of bulk power service. Nothing herein shall restrict the regional council from proposing standards within the scope of this section, with respect to additional matters not ent merated herein or specified by the Commission. (d) FAILURE TO PROPOSE STANDARDS.-If any regional council fails to propose standards covering any of the categories enumerated in subsection (c) the Commission shall, after notice to and consultation with the regional council, the State commissions in the region, and the National Electric Reliability Council, propose and publish standards governing such matters applicable to such region. (e) COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS.-It is the intent of Congress that all utilities voluntarily agree to comply with the standards published pursuant to subsections (b) and (d) of this section, and give due consideration to the appended comments of the Commission. However, if the Commission determines, after consultation with the regional council and the affected State commissions, that a specified failure to comply with previously-published standards has materially contributed to a bulk power supply failure or a shortage of bulk power necessitating curtailment of loads, it may, after notice and opportunity for written comments, by order require all electric utilities in the region thereafter to comply with the applicable, published standards. (f) COMMISSION CONSIDERATION OF STANDARDS.-The Commission shall consider the standards and appended comments published pursuant to subsections (b) and (d) in its administration of sections 6 and 7 of this Act and Parts I and II of the Federal Power Act. LONG RANGE REGIONAL PLANNING SEC. 6. (a) CONTINUOUS PLANNING.-As a continuing responsibility guided by the standards published pursuant to section 5 of this Act, with consideration given to the appended comments of the Commissioner and the planning objectives of subsection (b), each regional council shall coordinate the plans of electric utilities and power pools of utilities within its region or, with the cooperation of such utilities, develop a coordinated regional plan. Each utility shall consult with Federal, State, and local agencies and any statewide siting committees concerned with the protection of the environment and land-use planning in the development of its planning efforts for the regional council. Appropriate arrangements shall be made to enable Federal, regional, State, and local agencies and any statewide siting committees concerned with the protection of the environment to keep informed as to the work of the council and for consultation with their representatives. (b) PLANNING OBJECTIVES.-It is the intent of Congress that regional planning shall (1) provide the highest level of reliability of bulk power supply which is technically feasible and economically justifiable; (2) make adequate provision for supplying growing loads of all electric utilities in the region from economical sources; (3) provide for coordination and cooperation with the electric utilities of adjoining regions and, where necessary, with the systems of other countries; (4) avoid unnecessary duplication of facilities and plan system expansions that use capital and land resources to maximum efficiency; (5) make provision for all electric utilities-large and small-and their customers to have access to the benefits of coordination and economical bulk power supply, subject to such terms as the utilities involved may negotiate or regulatory agencies may prescribe under applicable provision of law; and (6) take full account of all applicable requirements, guidelines, and policies regarding the preservation and enhancement of the environment, conservation of natural resources, and land-use planning. (c) PLANNING STATUS REPORTS TO THE PUBLIC.-Each regional council shall report, at least once a year, to the Commission, the Advisory Panel on the Environment, each State commission in the region, and the National Electric Reliability Council, the status of the coordinated regional plan as of that date. Each report shall, as a minimum, cover a period of ten years beyond the current year; shall include sufficiently detailed information regarding the location and description of proposed bulk power supply facilities to permit Government gencies and the public to plan accordingly; and shall contain supporting data n sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the plans. The Commission shall give notice of the availability of the reports for review by all interested persons. (d) COMMISSION PUBLICATION AND COMMENT.-Following receipt and considration of public comments, including comments of the Advisory Panel on the Environment, and after informal meetings with the regional council, affected Etate commissions, and the Advisory Panel to resolve differences of views, and fter receipt of any supplementary studies requested of the regional council by |