EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
CHAIRWOMAN

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma
RANKING MEMBER

September 22, 2020
The Honorable Dan Brouillette
Secretary
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20585
Dear Secretary Brouillette,
As you know, the Committee on Science, Space and Technology is committed to supporting
federal research that enables the resilience, security, and performance of our nation’s electricity
transmission system. To that end, the Committee has advanced bipartisan legislation H.R. 5428,
the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019 and H.R. 5760, the Grid Security
Research and Development Act, to authorize research, development, and demonstration of
strategies to improve the backbone of the American energy system for the 21st century. I thank the
Department for providing comments and advice in the preparation of these bills.
In 2016, the Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Initiative teed off a multi-laboratory
research effort called the Interconnections Seam Study, which was to model how a more -connected
national grid could better support grid stability, more efficient resource distribution, and lower
power prices for consumers. By all accounts, this study would be an indispensable resource to
policymakers, utility managers, and investors. And indeed, preliminary results presented at a
technical conference in August 2018 indicated that connecting the three American power pools
with high-voltage transmission lines would yield annual operational savings of over $2 billion. 1
But more than two years after these preliminary results were publicized and $1.6 million in
taxpayer dollars spent, the Department has yet to release the Interconnection Seam Study to the
public.
I urge the Department to release this study as soon as possible. The United States is facing
devastating unemployment levels due to COVID-19, and the energy sector has been hit particularly
1

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Slides: Interconnections Seam Study. Presented at the TransGrid-X
Symposium. Ames, Iowa. August 2018. Available at
https://iastate.app.box.com/s/vfgn9nikl1rz7r8x0vaoauzpm2210t35

 hard by the economic downturn. The Interconnection Seam Study, when released, will help set the
table for major investments in high-voltage transmission lines that will not only lower electricity
bills, but create thousands of high-paying construction and engineering jobs in the process.
American workers and energy consumers cannot afford to wait.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) must also be permitted to re-post the preliminary
study’s findings and presentations on its website immediately. The Department’s efforts to
suppress this study as reported in the media suggests a number of violations of your own Scientific
Integrity Policy. 2 The policy clearly states DOE employees and contractors are allowed to speak
freely in scientific forums and contribute to public articles about their research, and that DOE
officials must not suppress scientific or technological findings. 3
I ask that your staff provide a detailed briefing for Committee staff on why the Interconnection
Seam Study remains unpublished four years after it was initiated and the Department’s plans for
releasing it.
I also seek a briefing on DOE’s efforts to ensure that program office and national laboratory
leadership and staff are educated on the principles and requirements in the agency’s Scientific
Integrity Policy, as required by the 2007 America COMPETES Act, and its plans for naming a
Scientific Integrity Official to oversee these initiatives. I note that the Department told the
Government Accountability Office last year that it would designate an Official by December
2019.4
These briefings may be conducted separately or combined depending on staffing requirements.
The briefings should be scheduled to take place for no later than October 20, 2020 and may be
conducted virtually.
I thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have questions, please have your staff
contact Janie Thompson of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology staff at 202 -2256375.

Sincerely,

Eddie Bernice Johnson
Chairwoman
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

2

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/08/how-trump-appointees-short-circuited-gridmodernization/615433/
3 Department of Energy Scientific Integrity Policy. DOE P 411.2A. Available at
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/DOE%20Scientific%20Integrity%20Policy%2001112017.PDF
4 https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-674T

 cc:

Frank Lucas
Ranking Member
Committee on Science, Space and Technology