E&E News: Lee, Heinrich press FERC on data center grid connections

The senators are expressing support for the Trump administration’s push to quickly connect data centers to the grid.
Energy and Natural Resource Chair Sen. Mike Lee and ranking member Martin Heinrichsent a letter Tuesday to members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionexpressing support for the Trump administration’s push to quickly connect datacenters to interstate transmission grids.
Their joint outreach to FERC, shared first with POLITICO, shows two senators who had been at odds with each other taking a bipartisan interest in addressing energy constraints facing the rollout of AI, which the Trump administration has called an existential priority for the U.S.
It concerns Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s request under Section 403 of the Department of Energy Organization Act for the commission to initiate a rule speeding connection of data centers to the grid.
"We support the Commission’s considerationof efforts to improve large-load and new generation interconnections so that the gridcan reliably and affordably meet growing demand and capture the historic opportunities it presents for our nation,” Lee and Heinrich wrote to Chair Laura Swett and Commissioners David Rosner, Lindsay See, Judy Chang and David LaCerte.
“Faster generator and load interconnectionprocesses, smart planning, and fair allocationof the costs of grid investments are essential.”
The leaders of the Energy Committee, which has oversight over FERC, also urged the commission to ensure that existing utility customers served by regional grids be protected from higher costs.
They said that any FERC rule should not infringe on local infrastructure permitting oversight or state regulators’ authority under the Federal Power Act to regulate retail electricity sales. State regulators last week pushed back on DOE's proposal, urging FERCto respect state authority over the grid.
But Lee and Heinrich also recognized FERC’s jurisdiction over wholesale rates and the interstate transmission of electricity and pressed for the commission to undertake a “balancing [of] these boundaries."
“The Commission must ensure that residential customers are not forced to bear the costs of these large-load interconnections,” Lee and Heinrich said.
“The Federal Power Act distinguishes between federal and state jurisdiction over electricity, and we strongly encourage the Commission to continue to honor this distinction when taking any future actions addressing large load interconnections.”