approve the siting of transmission facilities under certain circumstances;
promote the development of transmission facilities by giving incentives (including more attractive rates of return on equity and advantageous accounting methods) to encourage investment;
require utilities to give non-affiliated energy suppliers open and non-discriminatory access to their transmission lines;
oversee the reliability standards governing the US electric grid; and
prevent manipulation of the wholesale electricity market.
increase energy efficiency, siting, or upgrading transmission and distribution lines serving rural areas; and
modernize electric generation facilities that serve rural areas.
Amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to exclude from the definition of underground injection the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) in connection with hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil or gas, or geothermal production activities. This exclusion is sometimes referred to as the Halliburton Loophole (see Practice Note, Understanding Hydraulic Fracturing: Issues, Challenges, and Regulatory Regime).
Directed the US Secretary of Energy to conduct programs of renewable energy research, development, demonstration and commercial application, including solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy and ocean and wave energy.
Repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which regulated electric utilities, including limiting their activities and geographic scope and enacted the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005, a less expansive regulatory regime.