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Key Takeaways

  • The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has simplified approval rules for companies seeking permits to export U.S. electricity, but that rule contradicts its findings of an "energy emergency" across the country that justifies blocking power plant retirements, Public Citizen said Tuesday (July 21).
  • The DOE should reconsider its final rule on electricity export authorizations issued June 22, in part because it prevents individuals and groups from intervening in export authorization proceedings or filing protests, the consumer watchdog group said in a request for reconsideration filed July 21.
  • If the DOE denies Public Citizen's request for reconsideration, the group will "likely" sue the department to overturn the new rule, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's energy program, said in an email Wednesday (July 22).

Deep Dive

In May 2025, the DOE began issuing a series of emergency orders under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, requiring that some generating units at six power plants not be retired as planned, citing insufficient electricity supply. In some cases, these plants are located in areas that export electricity to Canada.

TransAlta's coal-fired Centralia plant in Washington state is one of them. The DOE ordered the plant to continue operating rather than retire as originally planned on December 31. The department said the plant needs to stay online due to an energy emergency in the Northwest.

Meanwhile, the DOE is reviewing a dozen export authorization applications, including one from TransAlta Energy Marketing (U.S.), which seeks to extend its authorization to export electricity to Canada via transmission lines in the Northwest, Midwest, and Northeast.

According to Public Citizen, the DOE's streamlined export authorization rule removes previous requirements on the timing, content, and reporting of export applications and weakens groups' ability to participate in authorization proceedings.

Under Section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act, utilities and power marketers must obtain a DOE determination that an export will not "impair the sufficiency of electric supply within the United States" before exporting electricity.

In defending its rule change, the DOE dismissed Public Citizen's view that the rule contradicts President Donald Trump's executive order declaring a national energy emergency.

The DOE said power marketers exporting electricity have no obligation to serve franchise areas or local loads. "Therefore, exports are not drawn from resources designated for specific domestic customer obligations," the department said. "The DOE believes that export authorizations will not impair the sufficiency of electric supply within the United States if these markets are not clearly deficient."

Additionally, the DOE noted that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) oversee grid reliability through mandatory reliability standards.

"Reliability coordinators and balancing authorities have the authority and responsibility to manage generation and transmission, ensure adequate reserve margins, and curtail or deny scheduled transmission (including exports) when necessary to maintain regional reliability and prevent system disturbances," the DOE said. "This multi-layered enforcement mechanism ensures that approved exports will not cause operational reliability issues on the domestic transmission system."

In its request for reconsideration, Public Citizen said the department's reasoning is flawed.

For example, the group noted that power marketers are not the only entities authorized to export electricity. El Paso Electric, a utility based in El Paso, Texas, has two pending export authorizations, while utilities such as Idaho Power, Portland General Electric, and Puget Sound Energy have existing export authorizations.

"Any electricity export (whether or not designated for a specific purpose) necessarily makes that electricity unavailable to domestic customers," Public Citizen said, which could exacerbate supply shortages in a given region.

Furthermore, the old rule specified the content that export applications must include. The group said removing these requirements makes it difficult for groups like Public Citizen to assess whether to challenge an application.

Public Citizen said the new rule improperly establishes a system where the DOE will "consider" comments on applications, but "commenters lack full party status and have no right to request a hearing or judicial review of adverse agency actions."