Energy Bill Redefines 'Clean' to Include Natural Gas, Mandates Agency Policy Overhaul in 180 Days

This bill, the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act of 2025, sets out to completely reset how the federal government defines energy. It establishes three specific definitions for “Affordable,” “Reliable,” and “Clean” energy, then immediately orders three major federal departments—Energy, Interior, and the EPA—to update all their existing rules, grants, and guidance to match these new terms. This overhaul has a tight deadline: agencies must report on their progress incorporating the new definitions within 180 days of the bill becoming law.

The New Energy Dictionary: What Changed?

If you thought you knew what “clean energy” meant, this bill introduces a significant curveball. Under this Act, "Clean" energy is defined to include nuclear power and existing clean sources, but critically, it also includes energy generated by burning natural gas or other hydrocarbons, provided that combustion meets national air quality standards. Think of it this way: instead of focusing strictly on carbon emissions, the definition pivots to local air quality. For energy companies, this is a big deal because it allows them to brand certain fossil fuel projects as “clean” when seeking federal permits or grants, which could dramatically shift where federal dollars flow.

Reliability: The 60% Rule

The bill also gets highly technical on “Reliable” energy, defining it as a source that generally cannot be intermittent and must have an Effective Load Carrying Capability (ELCC) of 60 percent or more. ELCC is a metric used to measure how much a power plant can reliably contribute to the grid’s overall capacity, essentially favoring sources that can run constantly, like nuclear or natural gas, over those dependent on weather, like solar or wind. If you’re an energy developer working on an intermittent project, this 60% threshold is a new hurdle; failing to meet it could mean your project is excluded from federal programs designed to promote “reliable” energy, potentially slowing down certain renewable expansions.

Affordable: Just the Production Cost

When it comes to “Affordable” energy, the definition is straightforward: it’s electricity that is cheap to produce, focusing only on the total cost of setting up and running the generation source. While keeping production costs low sounds great for everyone’s electric bill, this definition deliberately ignores the external costs—like the environmental impact of pollution or the cost of building new transmission lines to support that power. For consumers, this narrow focus on generation cost means the government may prioritize building cheaper-to-run power plants, even if those plants create hidden costs for the community or the environment down the line.

The Administrative Scramble

This bill sets up a huge amount of work for federal regulators. The heads of the Department of Energy, Interior, and the EPA must first list all their existing policies touching on affordable, reliable, or clean energy within 90 days. Then, they must rewrite all those policies to align with these new definitions within 180 days. This means that everything from grants for rural energy projects to EPA guidance on power plant permitting will have to be reviewed and potentially overhauled. This rapid regulatory shift could create temporary uncertainty for businesses and state governments relying on federal energy guidance, as the rules of the road are suddenly being changed at high speed. The ultimate impact will depend entirely on how these agencies choose to interpret and implement these new, politically charged definitions.