Congress Supports Expanding the
Nation’s Electrical Grid
The IBEW and supporters of affordable and renewable energy won a legislative victory in June when the House defeated an amendment that would have blocked funding for the Department of Energy to identify and resolve problems raised by electrical grid congestion.
With the estimated energy usage for the nation surpassing projected production, building a stronger electrical grid is vital to avoid transmission congestion which leads to higher consumer prices and risks of outage.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 granted the federal government limited power to identify those regions – designated as national interest corridors – where electrical reliability is threatened by transmission congestion and to address the problem if the local states involved are unwilling or unable to do so.
But an amendment offered by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) would have cut off federal funds to develop national interest corridors, threatening the construction of new transmission lines.
“The amendment would make it possible for a state to prevent the delivery of energy to areas that need it, by not allowing the building of a transmission line,” said Diamond Bar, Calif., Local 47 Business Manager Patrick Lavin.
Providers of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, would have been hit particularly hard by the amendment, as the regions of the country that are in the greatest need of power are often at a great distance from renewable sources.
A broad coalition, which included the IBEW, the National Electrical Contractors Association, the electrical industry and the Alliance for Rural America, joined together to defeat the amendment. “It was perfect bipartisan issue, with both sides – labor and industry – opposing it,” Lavin said.
The IBEW helped head a grassroots effort to get locals across the country to contact their congressional representative. “We made over 200 phones calls to locals around the country and pitched the issue to the members,” Lavin said. “And it worked.”
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