US Senate Democrats offer stand

US Senate Democrats offer stand-alone reliability bill

Washington (Platts)--26Mar2004

Democrats in the US Senate have drafted legislation to create a grid watchdog with the authority to mandate reliability standards for the nation's electric transmission lines. The bill (S 2236), sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (Democrat-Washington) and made available Friday, strips out the electric reliability provisions from the comprehensive energy bill (HR 6) that passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. Cantwell opposed HR 6, but said she believes every senator can agree that the reliability section is necessary.

The stand-alone reliability bill would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "working closely with regional entities, the statutory authority to put in place mandatory and enforceable reliability standards," she said. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (Democrat-New Mexico) also supports the bill.

The measure will bypass the committee process, and it will be up to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican-Tennessee) to bring the bill to a vote. The Senate's comprehensive energy bill (S 2095) awaits a vote by the chamber.

This story was first published in Platts real-time news and market reporting service Platts Electricity Alert (http://www.platts.com/Electric Power/Real-Time Information/Electricity Alert/).