May 10, 2023

SEEC Clean Energy Deployment Task Force Co-Chairs Sean Casten and Mike Levin Statement on Biden Permitting Reform Priorities

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Co-Chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Clean Energy Deployment Task Force, Reps. Sean Casten (IL) and Mike Levin (CA) released the following statement regarding the Biden-Harris Administration’s recently announced priorities for permitting reform:

“We are pleased the White House's vision on permitting reform matches many of our proposals in the draft of our Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration (CETA) Act, including addressing transmission siting and cost allocation, expanding opportunities for community engagement, and accelerating clean energy permitting on federal lands,” said Reps. Casten and Levin. “As we continue conversations on our discussion draft, we will work to incorporate the new ideas the White House has brought to the table alongside the ideas our fellow Members of Congress have developed.

“Our goal is to make the CETA Act a consensus permitting reform package of House Democrats that prioritizes good, transmission and clean energy-focused policy. To that end, we will continue to engage with stakeholders, including the White House, on additional proposals and policy solutions that can build on the progress we made in the Inflation Reduction Act and further accelerate the build-out of clean energy and transmission projects at the scale and speed demanded by the climate crisis.”

Earlier this month, Reps. Casten and Levin released a discussion draft of the Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration (CETA) Act. The bill aims to be a holistic approach at addressing the bottlenecks that exist in deploying clean energy and electricity transmission at the speed necessary to address the climate crisis, while also ensuring affected communities have their voices heard as part of the permitting process.

You can read more about the CETA Act here.

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