Randy Weber: “I rise in support of H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power Act, sponsored by my colleague from Ohio's 12th Congressional…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power Act, sponsored by my colleague from Ohio's 12th Congressional District, Mr. Troy Balderson. Put simply, this bill protects reliability that is critical to the economy as well as public health. The bill protects the public from future Federal rules that would force the premature retirement of power generation that is absolutely essential to keeping our grid reliable. Madam Speaker, our Nation today is confronting a reliability crisis. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which is the Nation's electric reliability organization, shows vast regions of our Nation are at risk for blackouts when weather events and peak demand collide. It is only going to get worse. The Energy and Commerce Committee has repeatedly heard from grid authorities about the massive number of premature retirements of baseload power in our very own electric system. These retirements take much-needed energy out of the grid system without adequate replacement of the types of baseload power needed to maintain reliability. The numbers are staggering, Madam Speaker. Over the next decade, 115GW of power is expected to come offline while 151GW of demand is needed to come online.”