TN Congressional Delegation Urges Biden To Address Energy Supply Chain Issues

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The Center Square [By Brent Addleman] –

One Alabama senator, along with nearly a dozen others in Congress, including most of the Tennessee delegation, have called on the president to address supply chain shortages within the energy sector.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, penned a letter to President Joe Biden to express concerns over the supply of transformers and other raw materials used to manufacture energy components for the Southeastern United States’ energy grid, amid rising concerns from local power companies as the hurricane season moves through its peak.

“Transformers are a crucial component of electricity delivery at substations and utility poles,” the delegation wrote in the letter to the president. “This equipment is important not only for keeping up with economic growth, but for restoring power after storms and other extreme weather events. In the past months, costs are skyrocketing, and lead times for some manufacturers are up to two years – while others are not taking orders at all.”

In the letter, the delegation, according to the release, encouraged the president to issue a temporary suspension of the Department of Energy’s “most recent conservation standards for transformers” as those components require more steel than in past manufacturing processes.

The delegation also urged Biden to “engage the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with suppliers to determine if there is a stockpile of transformers that were bought using federal dollars that can be used in emergency situations.”

Tuberville was joined writing the letter by U.S. Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-TN; Roger Wicker, R-MS; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-MS; and Marco Rubio, R-FL; and U.S. Reps. David Kustoff, R-TN; Diana Harshbarger, R-TN; John Rose, R-TN; Scott DesJarlais, R-TN; Tim Burchett, R-TN; Morgan Griffith, R-VA; and Chuck Fleischmann, R-TN.