Permitting Reform v Cancellations of Clean Energy Projects
Julie Nowak
Julie Nowak
Group Leader Action Team Leader Congressional Liaison
81 Posts

I understand the CCL position on why we have been lobbying for permitting reform, and why the proportion of clean energy projects in the permitting queue kept us steady after the gutting of wind and solar incentives in budget reconciliation.

In a recent Bloomberg article reprinted in Sunday’s Seattle Times, Burgum is quoted as talking about “leveling the (permitting reform) playing field,” claiming the administration is going for the same attributes we cited in lobbying last month: reliability and affordability, and even claiming environmental responsibility via consideration of “energy capacity density.”

This is a perfect set up for a LTE, but I want to be careful and clear under what feels like shifting ground.

QUESTIONS:

  1. Does CCL‘s position hold up under the escalating cancellation of significant clean energy projects and the way the current administration is reviewing permitting?
  2. Does this development change the proportion of dirty:clean energy projects in favor of dirty energy?

11day(s)
2 Replies
Dana Nuccitelli
Dana Nuccitelli
Staff Action Team Leader Congressional Liaison
2565 Posts

Hi @Julie Nowak. It's still true that the vast majority of new energy capacity that we're going to build in the coming years will be clean. That's because there are no other options. Coal is too expensive, and there's a backlog of natural gas turbine orders.

The Trump administration can throw up permitting roadblocks to limit the amount of new clean energy we build, and they're trying quite hard to do that (which, to be blunt, is really stupid and will cause electricity prices and blackouts to spike if they're successful). But there are also limits to how much they can block. 96% of new solar installations are already built on private land because building on public land triggers the NEPA process, which is very onerous (another aspect of permitting reform). The federal government doesn't have much influence over permitting on private lands – that's mostly governed by state and local permitting rules.

But the administration's actions are definitely giving Democrats pause in permitting reform negotiations. One point I just heard on a Heatmap webinar was that they're considering listing specific clean energy projects that would necessarily be permitted, the way Manchin did with the Mountain Valley Pipeline. That's an interesting idea to further limit the influence of the Trump administration.

Transmission is an open question because Trump doesn't hate it the way he hates wind and solar energy, and transmission is really critical to boost the grid and and more (especially clean) energy. But Hawley did also just convince Trump to revoke a DOE grant for the Grain Belt Express transmission project, which raises further questions. Though they didn't mess with the permits for that project.

In short, it's still mostly clean energy that benefits from permitting reform, and the Trump admin and Congress will wrestle over exactly how many of those projects will be able to benefit.

11day(s)
Antonio Quintanilla
Antonio Quintanilla
50th Congressional Contact 10th Lobby Meeting With Congress 10th Chapter Meeting
8 Posts

@Dana Nuccitelli
In today’s New York Times there is an article, “With Little Explanation, Trump Throws Wind Industry Into Chaos” regarding the President canceling permits for several wind projects, among them Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, citing national security. We should advocate for energy permitting neutrality as well as energy subsidy neutrality. This is the American way: fairness!

6day(s)

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