DB8 Speech & Debate Academy
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S. 803·High School Intermediate

A Bill to Set a 100% Clean Electricity Standard by 2040

Sen. Owens (D-MA)

Requires U.S. electricity sector to reach 100% zero-emission generation by 2040.

Sec. 1 — Mandate

Electric utilities serving over 1 GW of load shall reach 100% zero-emission electricity generation by 2040.

Sec. 2 — Compliance

Tradable clean-energy credits issued for qualifying generation.

Sec. 3 — Funding

$48 billion over 10 years for transmission and storage.

Sec. 4 — Enforcement

FERC and EPA joint enforcement.

Tournament Prep

Mechanical parts, sourced & timed

Use this as your pre-round checklist. Memorize the source citation. Time yourself to the delivery target.

Bill / Number
S. 803 — A Bill to Set a 100% Clean Electricity Standard by 2040
Funding source
$48B over 10 years from general fund + tradable credits.
Timeline
100% zero-emission by 2040.
Aggressive — EIA AEO 2024 projects ~70% zero-emission by 2040 under current policy; the gap is closeable with this bill's incentives.
Enforcing agency
FERC + EPA.
Yes — EPA Clean Air Act §111(d) (Massachusetts v. EPA, 2007).
Penalty for non-compliance
Credit-deficit penalties; potential CAA citizen suits.
Source citation
Princeton REPEAT (Jenkins et al., 2022), 'Final Report Summary on the Inflation Reduction Act' — repeatproject.org.
Delivery time (read aloud)
1:10 (70s)
Strongest counter-argument

100% by 2040 forces premature retirement of paid-off coal and gas plants — stranded-asset risk for utilities and ratepayers.

Your pre-emptive answer

Princeton REPEAT (2022) modeled this exact scenario — tradable credits in Sec. 2 cushion stranded-asset risk through compliance flexibility. And EIA (2024) shows new build solar+storage is already cheaper than operating existing coal in 7 of 9 NERC regions.