Permitting

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, a Democrat who sits on the Senate’s energy and natural resources committee, expressed frustration with the Trump administration rolling back policies in the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act meant to support critical minerals companies. “If we want to, in this country, lead in 21st century technology, why aren’t we starting with the extraction of the critical minerals that we need for that technology?” she asked.

At the same time, Cortez Masto also seemed hopeful that the Senate would move forward on both permitting and critical minerals legislation.

The ability of a state to veto a transmission line is what gives us the fragmented grid we have today, a grid that becomes increasingly ill-suited to the job of moving electricity as needed, especially as we try to shift to zero carbon wind and solar.

This problem is clear to solar and wind developers but not so much to activists and advocates of renewables. Without a grid that can transport energy from the most efficient renewables—wind in the midwest, solar in the southwest—a wind and solar-focused decarbonization plan means higher prices and continued use of fossil fuel generation. Here’s a cautionary tale from an HVDC developer.

from Packy McCormick
Government efficiency should not be a partisan issue. Republican or Democrat, you should want your government to work both harder and smarter for you, for your tax dollars to go a bit further, and for there to be less unnecessary red tape.

We’re excited about what DOGE is going to do on this front. If DOGE can make efficiency a winning political value proposition, then you are going to see leaders from both sides of the aisle adopt it. Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is already starting. Shapiro has been on the efficiency train since before it was cool — his record-breaking 1-95 reconstruction put him on the map.

Efficiency should not be the end goal here. Ultimately, we’ll want not just an efficient government but an effective one, too. Let’s Make Government Efficient Again! And I say that in the least partisan way possible.

It would be a crucial step toward America realizing its potential as a clean energy superpower, but only if we can put our desires for a perfect policy aside and embrace practical compromise.

America has already begun to feel the impacts of landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law. But how transformative these legislative achievements can be for American reindustrialization, our transition to a clean energy economy, and job growth rests on some key decisions still before Congress.

One bill with the power to make a remarkable difference is the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act (EPRA) of 2024, which will come to the floor once the House and the Senate return in the fall.

Introduced in July by Senators Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., EPRA would be a crucial step toward America realizing its potential as a 21st century clean energy superpower, but only if…

Measuring the overall emissions impacts of EPRA requires assessing multiple provisions within the bill, including those that could have upward or downward pressure on emissions. While modeling the prescriptive impacts of the bill is challenging, the direction and magnitude of impacts is clear. The chart below places these provisions in scene together, presenting the banded range in which potential emissions impacts could fall.

Co-sponsored by the top two leaders in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 was introduced on Monday and has already garnered support from CCL, clean energy groups, public interest groups, and trade groups representing the fossil fuel industry.  Some groups, like the Center for Biological Diversity and Earth Justice are solidly against the Act, and the Sierra Club says it falls short of their standards to get their support (yet?).

This post reports on the legislative timelines, links to statements from the various interest groups and summaries of the Act itself.

CCL concludes: “It’s a really good bill!”

(from RTO Insider)
Reports Detail Growing List of State and Local Restrictions

Two new reports have been published on the profusion of local and state regulations affecting renewable energy development — one attempting to summarize them, the other quantifying the growing number of restrictions they impose. 

“Laws in Order: An Inventory of State Renewable Energy Siting Policies” summarizes the renewable energy siting and permitting policies in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. One of its findings is that the approach …