§18715a Grants to Facilitate the Siting of Interstate Electricity Transmission Lines

Summary

The Secretary can use $760,000,000 from the Treasury for fiscal year 2022, available until September 30, 2029, to make grants and pay related administrative costs. Grants can go to siting authorities (state, local, or Tribal governments that decide where power lines go) for a covered transmission project to pay for studies of impacts, looking at up to three possible route corridors, taking part in hearings or negotiations in other places or regional transmission groups, taking part in FERC or state rate and cost hearings, and other actions that may speed approval. The Secretary can also fund local economic development for communities affected by a project, but no grant agreement may lead to spending after September 30, 2031. A siting authority that takes a grant must agree in writing to make a final decision on the project within 2 years of getting the grant unless an extension is allowed for good cause. Federal support for taking part in other-jurisdiction or rate proceedings is limited to 50 percent. Economic-development grants are paid only after project approval (for the siting authority) or after construction starts (for other governments). Any unused grant money must be returned within 2 years. A covered transmission project is a proposed interstate or offshore high-voltage line of at least 275 kilovolts on land or 200 kilovolts offshore, and the proposer has applied or said they will apply. A siting authority is the government entity with final siting or permitting power in the project area.