Our friends at Niskanen and the Clean Air Task Force published a new report, recommendations for overcoming barriers to federal transmission permitting. Some of the areas they touch focus on things that regulatory agencies can do, like working together and with state and tribal groups in a more efficient manner. But there are a lot of suggestions relevant to Congressional permitting reform negotiations.
For example, the report discusses the importance of supporting early and sustained community engagement in the permitting process. That's something we at CCL have been talking about since we expanded into this policy area. The report also talks about streamlining the permitting of big important interstate transmission lines:
Congress should grant FERC comprehensive and plenary permitting and siting powers for key transmission projects. The Streamlining Interstate Transmission of Electricity (SITE) and Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration (CETA) Acts serve as possible legislative models.
That's something we've also long talked about, although it's an idea that hasn't been able to get bipartisan support so far, so it may not make it into a permitting reform deal. So the report is pretty consistent with what we've been advocating for in this area, plus some recommendations for things federal agencies can do. In a webinar about the report, they also touched on the fact that inter-regional transmission is particularly needed, which highlights the effectiveness of the BIG WIRES Act, which CCL has advocated for and has a good chance of being included in a bipartisan deal.
There have been a number of news articles saying that Senators Manchin and Barasso are getting very close to finishing a bipartisan permitting reform deal, so hopefully we'll have more to say on the subject in the near future 🤓
"Interregional transmission results in the largest benefits."
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