New England’s largest utility is piling on to calls for winter help from the federal government.

In a letter to President Biden last week, Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) CEO Joseph Nolan asked the administration to start preparing for possible emergency action as New England stares down what could be a dicey winter for the region’s electric grid.

“As both an energy company CEO and a lifelong New Englander, I am deeply concerned about the potentially severe impact a winter energy shortfall would have on the people and businesses of this region,” Nolan wrote.

He laid out a problem that has become familiar to energy policymakers in the Northeast: pipeline constraints, a lack of fuel storage capability and a volatile LNG market, which together could mean rolling blackouts if the region sees a period of extreme, extended cold.

Nolan pointed to four possible emergency actions that the federal government could take:

• • • a waiver of the Jones Act to make it easier for imported LNG to get to terminals in New England;
    • an emergency order under Federal Power Act Section 202c, which allows the secretary of energy to order “temporary connections of facilities and such generation, delivery, interchange or transmission of electric energy”;
    • an emergency order under the Natural Gas Policy Act, which addresses a “severe natural gas shortage”; and
    • using the Defense Production Act to prioritize domestic energy supplies.

Waiting until an emergency arrives would be too late, Nolan wrote, asking the federal government to start making a plan with the region.

“The need for action now is compelling. Many of the solutions require advance planning because they may require actions by regulators, finding new resources, chartering vessels, arranging for additional fuel deliveries and other yet-to-be-identified extraordinary actions,” he said.

Eversource’s request for help follows others in the region, including New England’s governors, who wrote to the Biden administration in August asking for consideration of a Jones Act waiver and work on a new Northeast energy reserve. (See New England Governors Ask Feds for Help with Winter Reliability.)