Congress locks in coal and gas plants, forces taxpayers to pay for it
H.R. 3843 — Baseload Reliability Protection Act · Filed by Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) · 26 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits electric power plants (coal, gas, nuclear) from retiring or switching fuel sources in regions where the grid operator says there is a high or elevated risk of power shortages. Plant owners can petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an exemption within 90 days if retirement would cause financial losses or safety risks; if approved, the Department of Energy may provide grants or loans to keep the plant running. The bill explicitly bars the Commission from considering greenhouse gas emissions when deciding exemptions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a retirement prohibition tied to grid-reliability assessments, but it operationalizes this through DOE grants and loans to utilities, making it functionally a subsidy program for aging baseload generators dressed in reliability language.
What the text implies
- The bill creates a permanent subsidy pathway: utilities can petition for exemptions based on unprofitability, triggering DOE grants/loans funded from existing infrastructure appropriations, effectively converting grid-reliability policy into a utility-support program with no sunset or spending cap.
- By explicitly prohibiting the Commission from considering greenhouse gas emissions, the bill insulates coal and gas plants from climate-based retirement decisions, potentially locking in decades of continued fossil-fuel generation even in regions with viable renewable alternatives.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
coal-fired power plant operators; natural gas power plant operators; nuclear power plant operators