House climate hawks plot permitting overhaul
As talk on a permitting overhaul slowly gathers steam in Congress, two House Democrats are moving forward with their own proposal.
On Thursday, Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin of California formally released a discussion draft of their bill, the “Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration (CETA) Act,” the details of which were first reported by E&E News last month (E&E Daily, March 31). The hope, as is the case with most discussion drafts, is to get input from colleagues before a formal introduction.
Their legislation, when officially introduced, will represent the first comprehensive bill to overhaul the permitting process to come exclusively from the Democratic side of the aisle.
It also will answer the call from Biden administration officials to streamline permitting for renewable energy initiatives — investments for which were included in the Inflation Reduction Act — but which are being bogged down in bureaucratic delays.
“The data is overwhelmingly clear: without reforming the transmission permitting and siting processes, we will not meet our goals,” Casten said in a statement.
“The current process is arduous, expensive, and lined with bureaucratic red tape. The Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act of 2023 implements the necessary reforms to fully realize the consumer savings and clean energy benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Levin said that in order to achieve the potential in the IRA, "the U.S. must more than double our historic rate of transmission expansion and invest in renewable energy generation."
The bill, he said, would "ensure that our grid is up to the task by expanding high-capacity transmission, reforming the interconnection process, enhancing community engagement, and building on the $1 billion we secured in the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure federal agencies have the resources and processes to conduct efficient environmental reviews.”
Their vision constitutes a mix of new and old ideas. It draws from bills previously introduced by Senate Democratic leaders in the space — including Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — and incorporates elements of the sweeping "Environmental Justice for All Act," which was recently reintroduced in honor of its champion, the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.).
The “CETA Act” would rely heavily on giving new authorities to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, prioritizing emission-reducing initiatives, mandating input from front-line communities and creating offices to streamline the greenlighting of projects.
It would establish an Office of Electricity Transmission within FERC; allow FERC to consider the “economic, reliability and climate benefits” of a transmission project when issuing a permit; and give the agency the authority to prioritize siting transmission lines of “national interest.”
It would also require FERC to establish environmental justice liaisons to ensure community input is collected during the permitting process and state that environmental impact statements include, if applicable, “alternatives that do not contribute to adverse cumulative environmental pollution impacts on overburdened communities higher than those borne by other committees in the geographic area.”
A new provision in their discussion draft would mandate that FERC “ensure that electric utilities account for the external cost of greenhouse gas emissions when setting their utility rates.”
'A strong counterproposal'
Casten and Levin — the co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Task Force on Clean Energy Deployment — are sharing a discussion draft now as opposed to introducing a formal piece of legislation as a way of soliciting more feedback from colleagues.
They are hopeful it will eventually become the blueprint their party will coalesce around as a show of strength rather than splintering among several different proposals. They argue that Democrats need a consensus bill on the subject as they go into negotiations with Republicans, who have embraced a vastly different approach.
“It’s important that we understand what we as House and Senate Democrats agree on, and what the objectives really are,” Levin said in an interview Thursday. “We need to flesh that out, make sure that those principles are ones we can agree on. And that gives us, I think, a much better negotiating position going forward.”
Levin added that he and Casten hope to introduce an official bill in the next month, contingent on being able to complete substantive conversations with Senate allies and the White House.
These talks will be taking place amid a flurry of activity around what a permitting overhaul measure should look like.
Some overtures are, like Casten and Levin’s, partisan.
House Republicans in March passed H.R. 1, the “Lower Energy Costs Act,” which contains the text of legislation from Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.). It would make dramatic changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, which most Democrats and environmentalists oppose.
The GOP also stuck this language in H.R. 2811, the “Limit, Save, Grow Act,” the party’s opening bid in negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, which passed Wednesday night (E&E Daily, April 27).
In the Senate, the top Republicans on the Energy and Natural Resources and Environment and Public Works committees — West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and Wyoming’s John Barrasso, respectively — are working on their own permitting proposal (E&E Daily, March 30).
Markey has been looking to drum up support for a set of progressive “principles” for permitting reform, too (E&E Daily, March 22).
There have also been bipartisan overtures. Capito and EPW Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) are engaging across the aisle, as that committee earlier this week held the first in what could be a series of hearings on permitting reform. Barrasso and ENR Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will hold a permitting hearing next month (E&E Daily, April 27).
In the House, Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who favors a NEPA overhaul approach to the permitting question, is trying to produce a bipartisan proposal with House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). Manchin and Westerman have also been having some discussions on the subject.
Levin, however, suggested his approach with Casten was necessary.
“We’ve seen [Republicans’] opening salvo with H.R. 1, which was a wish list of fossil fuel lobbyists,” he said, “and I think we need a strong counterproposal focused on the actual challenges of clean transmission and interconnection.”
By: Emma Dumain
Source: E & E