House Energy Committee hears testimony for bill to create state electric siting board

The House Energy Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 502, the bill sponsored by Vice Chair Mandy Steele that would create a state board to streamline siting decisions for electricity generation and storage projects.

Proponents at the hearing argued the bill would provide certainty for developers, accelerate deployment of generation and storage to meet rising demand, and protect landowner rights; opponents and some committee members said they were concerned about the potential erosion of local control and the limits on post-decision appeals.

Kathy Dietz, a director in Vistra’s corporate development and strategy organization, told the committee Vistra is “the largest competitive power generator in the U.S. with a capacity of approximately 41,000 megawatts, enough to power 20,000,000 homes,” and said a centralized permitting pathway would reduce time and risk for projects. Dietz described Vistra’s siting process and emphasized environmental review and local engagement as part of project planning.

Michael Ford, secretary-treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council, urged action to avoid reliability risks and higher consumer costs, saying the state needs “more energy on the grid.” Ford said the council supports an “all-of-the-above” energy approach and called the current siting and permitting process an obstacle that can force viable projects to stall or be abandoned.

Robert Ruth of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) told the committee NRDC supports HB 502 as an “entirely optional pathway” that would sit within the Department of Environmental Protection and would not change existing environmental statutes; he pointed to section 809 of the bill as evidence that environmental, health and safety laws remain unaffected.

Representatives of the renewables industry said the bill is aimed at providing predictability. Evan Vaughn, executive director of the Mid Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, said the measure is not “a taking of private property,” noting projects require landowner consent, and told the committee Pennsylvania’s portion of the PJM interconnection queue contains about 9 gigawatts of mostly solar, with historical maturation rates near 20% but recently closer to 5% because of local siting barriers. Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables LLC, described a $1.5 billion PJM project his company has under construction employing about 1,200 union workers and said a state process can reduce costly local litigation and provide cover for local officials faced with contentious, high‑value projects.

Committee members pressed witnesses on safeguards for local input and legal review. Chair Cauzer warned the phrase “the state knows best” alarms rural residents and cited past projects that lost local support or were litigated; Representative Kephart pressed witnesses on bill language that would limit appeals of the board’s decisions to the administrative record before the Environmental Hearing Board. Robert Ruth said NRDC was not aware of a problem with that appeal provision as written and emphasized the bill requires applicants to consult municipalities and to submit environmental and siting information with applications.

Vice Chair Mandy Steele, sponsor of the bill, said she supports local voice but emphasized the urgency of addressing PJM’s forecasted demand increases and said the bill is “all of the above,” affecting renewables and fossil generation alike. Steele told the committee, “We’ve got to get this darn thing done and we’ve got to get it done fast,” and encouraged bipartisan amendment and refinement.

No formal action or vote was taken during the hearing; committee members said the bill will receive further consideration and additional input. The hearing record includes multiple offers of technical and drafting amendments from industry and environmental stakeholders, and speakers urged the committee to refine local engagement and appeal processes as the bill moves forward.