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House subcommittee clashes over energy reliability, permitting and the future role of renewables
Summary
At a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee hearing, lawmakers and four witnesses disputed whether the U.S. should prioritize fossil fuels and nuclear to preserve grid reliability or accelerate renewables, storage and transmission — with permitting reform and federal subsidies a central point of contention.
At a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Chairman Burleson pressed witnesses on how the nation will meet sharply rising power demand, while Ranking Member Frost warned that climate-driven outages are already costing families and communities.
"Power demand is expected to grow dramatically," Chairman Burleson said in his opening statement, asking, "Where will this additional power come from?" He cited the Reliable Grid Act of 2024 and said the committee will examine regulatory and permitting barriers to new generation and transmission.
Four witnesses gave competing prescriptions. Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, told the subcommittee that the United States faces "an electricity crisis" driven, he said, by policies that restrict reliable generation and by policies that he characterized as artificially increasing demand. "We are artificially restricting the supply of reliable electricity, and we are artificially increasing the demand for…
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