Casten calls for energy commission to consider climate change
Congressman seeks to undermine free ride for fossil fuels
Congressman Sean Casten speaks at a news conference backing the EPA last year in Chicago, joined by U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
A freshman Illinois congressman is trying to undercut the Trump administration’s bias in favor of fossil fuels by calling on a federal commission to consider the impacts of climate change in setting energy prices.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove joined Thursday in sponsoring a bill that would compel the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to “take into account greenhouse-gas emissions when setting their utility rates,” according to a news release issued by his office.
Casten charged that President Trump’s favoritism toward fossil fuels was getting in the way of markets moving naturally toward cheaper, cleaner energy.
“While climate deniers and delayers have focused on the pain of converting to a clean energy system, markets have consistently made economic decisions to invest in clean energy,” Casten said in a statement. “That’s good news, but it has created its own challenges as we think about how to allocate the gains from cheaper, cleaner energy.
“In recent decades, FERC has focused almost exclusively on consumer prices, with the result that in many markets the price of electricity is falling below the level that is necessary to attract crucial and continuing investment,” he added. “Left unchecked, this will make it impossible to maintain the clean, reliable grid that consumers and businesses have come to expect. This bill serves a critical and necessary function to remind FERC that they have an affirmative obligation to structure rules and markets to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders — consumers, investors, and the environment — are met. We cannot get to a zero carbon economy under the current regulatory regime, and this bill is a critical and necessary step to achieve that goal.”
Casten’s bill seeks to force the federal commission to take into account the full cost of an energy source — including its impact on the environment — when setting prices.
State Rep. Ann Williams and CUB Executive Director David Kolata (right) have also taken some recent shots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
FERC came under fire earlier this month in Illinois from backers of the Clean Energy Jobs Act in the General Assembly. State Rep. Ann Williams of Chicago, lead sponsor in the House, joined David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, in charging that the commission was weighing what could become an $846 million rate hike for Illinois electricity customers by giving unfair preference to fossil fuels over cheaper sources of clean energy. Williams touted provisions in CEJA that would assign the task of setting energy prices to the Illinois Power Agency instead.
Casten’s federal bill grants that, under the Federal Power Act, FERC has the responsibility to set “just and reasonable” energy rates. But he maintains that “FERC failed to consider the full economic and environmental cost of greenhouse-gas emissions. When we properly take into account the entire cost of greenhouse-gas emissions, it makes it clear that dirty energy sources are more expensive and it facilitates the transition to clean energy sources, reducing emissions and tackling the climate crisis.”
Casten’s news release adds, “This bill clarifies that FERC has the responsibility to incorporate the entire cost of greenhouse-gas emissions in its rate-making decisions, which they have failed to do.”
“If federal regulators fail to consider the cost of increased greenhouse-gas emissions, all Americans will be forced to pay for an ever-increasing price of climate change and environmental destruction without their knowledge,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts, a co-sponsor. “By passing the Energy PRICE Act, we will make clear that FERC has the legal authority and moral obligation to consider greenhouse-gas emissions when determining energy rates and considering new utility projects.”