Permitting

Another hurdle to getting HVDC or other major transmission needed is the current permitting process, said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Congress’ chief FERC booster. Also, it “is too damn cheap,” Casten said.
“You’ve generated this problematic resource that is super cheap: effectively zero marginal cost,” Casten said. “And on the other end is an entity — an RTO or utility — who depends on earning $50, $60, $70/MWh. And you are putting $30 power into that market.”

Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) today will introduce long-awaited legislation to spur the nation’s buildout of interregional transmission lines. The Building Integrated Grids with Interregional Energy Supply Act (“Big Wires Act”)aims to accelerate America’s transition to cleaner energy while strengthening its strained electric grid.

A world-beating deposit of lithium along the Nevada–Oregon border could meet surging demand for this metal. An estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium metal is notably larger than the lithium deposits found beneath a Bolivian salt flat, previously considered the largest deposit in the world. Mining at the site is, however, contested by Native Americans for whom the area is sacred, and is believed to be where a massacre took place in 1865.

from lasvegassun.com By Rhiannon Saegert  | Jul. 13th, 2023 By Rhiannon Saegert (contact) Thursday, July 13, 2023 | 2:30 p.m. Clark County residents decried the proposed path of power lines through the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National…

The United States faces a conundrum in its course to adopt renewable energy. While the outlook for cleaner energy sources is positive, the country’s power infrastructure requires essential upgrades to make the transition worth the effort, time and money.

Editor’s Note: This is a good explanation of why the Debt Ceiling bill only contained modest permitting reform and the changing politics of Republican support for permitting reform.

By the time I talked to Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, he was clearly frustrated. “This is ridiculous,” he said. “These guys write reports and they protest. But we need to build. You can’t be serious about climate and the environment without reforming permitting and procurement in this state.”

from CCL Weekly Briefing Lawmakers have reached a deal to raise the debt limit, and it includes some reforms to America’s energy permitting processes. That deal is now working its way through Congress in an…

from NY Times President Biden and Congress have wrangled a big political deal to raise the country’s debt ceiling. Tucked into that deal are some changes to how the government approves new projects that bear…

As Washington wages parallel battles on permitting and new environmental regulations, one conundrum crisscrosses both: A pileup of permit applications to store carbon dioxide underground. Storing carbon will likely be increasingly important to power plants…

The two sides prioritize vastly different policy goals. Broadly speaking, Republicans want to accelerate the approval process for pipelines and other fossil fuel projects, while Democrats have tried to speed the construction of the electric transmission lines needed to carry clean power.