The legislation included--
-- Geothermal Energy: House Bill 2076 (Venkat-D- Allegheny, Williams-R-Chester), bipartisan legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for the generation of geothermal resources in the state [amended];
-- Advanced Transmission Line Technology: House Bill 2223 (Fiedler-D- Philadelphia) requiring electric utilities to evaluate the use of advanced transmission technologies when they file transmission line siting applications [amended]; and
-- PA Energy Financing Authority: House Bill 2347 (Fiedler-D-Philadelphia) would update the duties of the PA Energy Development Authority and change its name [amended].
“I believe right now our constituents, as I said, are facing skyrocketing bills and our neighbors who sent us here are looking for relief. They're looking for someone to act,” said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia), Majority Chair of the Committee. “And while not every solution comes from this legislative body, I believe there are many things that we can do to help bring people's bills down or at least to make sure they don't go even higher.
“One of the solutions is to get more power online. We also must make sure our existing grid is used to its maximum capacity,” said Rep. Fiedler. “And I believe that the agency formerly known as Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, now known as PEFA, can play a key role in doing that.”
GeoThermal Energy
House Bill 2076 (Venkat-D-Allegheny, Williams-R-Chester) is bipartisan legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for the generation of geothermal resources in the state.
“It's clear to me that in the coming years we need to produce more energy. All of us here, Democrats and Republicans, are accountable to our constituents back home,” said Rep. Fiedler. “And we all know that their bills are rising. People are afraid, people are frustrated, and people are worried about what the future holds.
“We held a hearing on this legislation a few weeks ago and the industry, administration, environmental groups, and labor were all in agreement that this legislation will lay the groundwork for investment in a promising new energy generation industry,” said Rep. Fieldler. “This is tremendously exciting. In fact, I'm not aware of any stakeholder opposition to this bill.”
Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron), Minority Chair of the Committee said, “I'd like to thank the sponsors of this bill. I do think that this is an opportunity for us to work in a bipartisan manner. Although I will say that I think the bill still needs to be refined. Certainly willing to work with anyone who wants to work in that direction.
“And my hope is that while I'll be opposing the bill moving from Committee today, my hope is that we can continue to work toward a final product and that it can be a bipartisan product in the future.”
Rep. Causer offered an amendment to the bill that would have removed the authority of DEP to prevent geothermal energy well owners from abandoning their wells through an effective well plugging bonding program; establishing setbacks and assessing community impacts of the facilities; and charging fees on well owners adequate to support the cost of the regulatory program.
“I have a number of concerns with the bill, particularly regarding the broad authority granted to our bureaucratic agencies to regulate the industry and impose fees and burdensome requirements on the industry however they see fit,” said Rep. Causer. “And reviewing the bill brings back a lot of memories of the challenges that we've had with oil and gas operations across the Commonwealth.
“Unfortunately, we've seen agencies like the EP working through the EQB impose some really crushing requirements on a number of industries. And that is why I've proposed this amendment which limits the authority of DEP and EQB with these matters and would ask for support for the amendment.”
[In other words, the amendment would create the same kind of program, supported by Rep. Causer, that failed to prevent the abandonment of tens of thousands of conventional oil and gas wells that have become a financial burden on taxpayers.]
Rep. Fiedler said-- “My concern is that the amendment removes important language that would allow the Environmental Quality Board to consider community impacts when it is creating regulations.
“And of even greater concern to me is the amendment's removal of DEP's ability to pause operations when there are repeated violations. This piece is incredibly important to me to make sure we are protecting the people who already live in these communities.
“Removing that power creates what I deem an unacceptable potential risk to public safety and the public in general, and I'm asking [Committee] members for a no vote.”
The amendment was defeated along party lines-- Republicans supporting.
The bill was reported out of Committee along party lines-- Republicans opposing.
Advanced Power Line Technology
House Bill 2223 (Fiedler-D- Philadelphia) would require electric utilities to evaluate the use of advanced transmission technologies when they file transmission line siting applications.
Rep. Causer expressed a concern about the cost of the bill-- “There are still concerns with the bill in that it is a mandate that someone's going to have to pay for. And so I don't think the bill is completely refined to the point where we can support it, but hope that we can get there in the future. I'm going to be against the bill.”
Rep. Fiedler responded by saying-- “I believe the work of this Committee is to do everything we can to get more power online, to work to make our grid more reliable and resilient so that we can hopefully avoid some of these worst case scenarios, blackouts, brownouts, bills that are even larger than they are now, things that none of our constituents can possibly afford or be expected to deal with.”
“I'm excited for this bill, the Advanced Transmission Technologies bill, because I think it fits into that goal of cutting costs and trying to keep costs as low as possible for people and trying to make as much as we can from our existing grid.
“That in fact is exactly what these ATTs do, preventing the need to run new transmission lines so that we can get as much as possible out of the ones that we have right now.
The bill was reported out of Committee largely on party lines-- Republicans opposing.
PA Energy Financing Authority
House Bill 2347 (Fiedler-D-Philadelphia) would update the duties and rename the PA Energy Development Authority to the PA Energy Financing Authority to allow the state to qualify for federal energy funding.
Rep. Fiedler said-- “There is tremendous money available via the federal government, and those are tax dollars that our constituents sent via their federal taxes to DC. Those are dollars that are available to us if we have a state authority that is able to own projects, and that's exactly what we are trying to do here.
“We are trying to change the language in this authority so that it is able to own projects with the goal of bringing back some of that federal tax money to Pennsylvania for projects to get more energy online.
“I think that last piece, getting more energy online is something that we all say that we would like to do.
“And I believe that we need to do everything we can to make that happen, like I said, with the goal of keeping people's bills as low as possible, making sure they don't go even higher.”
Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chester) said-- “I don't think that the government ought to be in the business of building things that people don't want, don't want to build, and certainly don't want to pay for, especially in an era where the number one issue of the day in terms of our economics is whether or not we have enough electricity.
“Building more uneconomic electricity that is non-dispatchable and intermittent is not the answer. [He’s referring to renewable energy.]
“Large, large generation plants is the future of Pennsylvania, not a new financing authority that is going to own Pennsylvania generation. I encourage a no vote.”
The bill was reported out of Committee along party lines-- Republicans opposing.
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) serves as Majority Chair of the House Energy Committee and can be contacted by calling 215-271-9190 or click here to contact. Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-5075 or by sending email to: mcauser@pahousegop.com.
Resource Links:
-- Senate DEP Budget Hearing: How Energy Storage Can Add Capacity To The Grid; Chesapeake Bay Cleanup [PaEN]
[Posted: April 13, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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