The democratically-controlled Congress has until year-end to rein in the unending delay tactics of opponents to wind, solar, and transmission project construction. Compromise is needed to get a bill.

Block Island offshore wind farm, Ionna22, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Democratic leaders hope to revive permitting reforms initiated by Senators Manchin and Schumer that failed to gain enough votes to pass Congress in September. (1)

Without a change in permitting procedures — which have become weaponized by NIMBYs, fossil-fuel companies, and nuclear power owners — renewable energy projects will be delayed or stopped. The result? Project developers will incur unnecessary costs that increase consumer electricity costs.

Building carbonless projects rest on three policies

President Biden (2) and the 24 states of the U.S. Climate Alliance (3) have pledged ambitious targets to slash carbon emissions. The federal and state targets seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 (below 2005 levels) and achieve overall “net-zero GHG emissions as soon as practicable, but no later than 2050.”

Reaching these carbon-reduction goals to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s 1.5-degree Celsius temperature limit requires three aligned policies:

Tax incentives to boost new solar, wind, and powerline construction. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (4) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) (5), the private sector is financially incentivized to construct new renewable energy projects and the transmission wires to deliver clean electricity to customers.
Grants to fund R&D for new clean energy technologies. Lowering the cost of new cleantech requires research and development investments. This new research is funded under the Energy Act of 2020 (6) and the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (7).
Site permitting reforms to limit anti-development tactics. Financial incentives and R&D funding are necessary but not sufficient conditions to meet the Paris Agreement targets. Unless renewable energy projects are built, and minerals like lithium are mined, the U.S. energy infrastructure will be dominated by carbon-emitting technologies past the 2050 targets.

Permitting delays threaten renewable energy projects with high costs and project cancellation risks.

To speed up construction, Senator Joe Manchin sponsored the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022 (8). Other Congress members have proposed siting reforms, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (the SITE Act) (9) and the House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC). (10)

U.S. carbon emissions are forecasted to rise through 2050

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) most recent forecast of carbon emissions shows emissions increasing after 2030, not decreasing. While this forecast was made before the passage of the IRA, the result is the same if we do not build renewable energy projects.

NIMBYs use regulations to stop zero-carbon projects

Developers of large-scale renewable energy projects must navigate a tortuous, multi-year path to get regulatory approvals from federal, state, and local authorities. The process costs hundreds of thousands and often millions of dollars before multiple agencies approve the required permits to start construction. The developer, contemplating a project, is at financial risk if the project development does not proceed to the construction phase.

For perspective, the Federal Environmental Review and Authorization Inventory lists more than 60 agency reviews (11), not all of which apply to every project. The list provides a wealth of opportunities for project opponents to file objections.

If the opponents intended to negotiate in good faith to build a better project for the developer and the community, then the parties would need to compromise. However, if the intervention and litigation costs are subsidized by fossil-fuel companies, for instance, then the project opponents have no financial incentive to go to the bargaining table.

If regulatory interventions do not stop the project, then the opponents may file a legal complaint in court. The court process is expensive for the project developers, who must react to the litigation with additional expert testimony. If the residents are unhappy with the first judge’s decision, they can file to delay the project at the appellate court and then to the state’s supreme court.

In parallel with the court cases, the litigants may also file a petition to change local zoning bylaws or state laws to outlaw the project.

Activist opponents have a multi-pronged toolkit to stop projects

Clean energy project opponents share an effective playbook for creating barriers to permitting, which includes:

Form a community group. Activists will organize a coordinating group with appealing names like “Rescue Candlewood Mountain (12).”
Lawyer up. Once organized, the opponents will need to hire an attorney specializing in permitting litigation to file the intervention complaints.
Raise money. Lawyers and regulatory filings, as well as community organizing efforts, require funding. Funds for current and past interventions have been provided by fossil-fuel companies and incumbent energy suppliers (see below) who are opposed to renewable energy competition. Other funds have been raised by community funding drives and GoFundMe crowdfunding.
Lobby politicians. Getting an audience with legislators, governors, mayors, city councilors, and regulatory agencies requires connected lobbyists to make direct appeals to decision-makers.
File as many interventions as possible. Filing interventions is low cost compared to defending against the interventions. Therefore, project opponents will send a volley of complaints to regulatory agencies regarding alleged stormwater issues, vernal pool encroachment, endangered species takings, wildlife endangerment, construction traffic noise, electricity transmission radiation, inverter noise, solar panel rain runoff, and project visibility to neighbors. The purpose of the filings is not to negotiate a solutions to alledged environmental harm but to delay and ultimately kill the project.
Petition to change laws. When all else fails, project opponents may organize a voters’ petition to create a ballot initiative to stop the project (see below).
Go to the courts. If the regulators approve the project, then the opponents will file a court lawsuit. The court process may extend over several years until all appeals to the appellate and state supreme court are exhausted.

A recent example of relentless actions to thwart a clean energy project is the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line from the Canadian border to Lewiston, ME (13). The proposed project "would cut a cumulative 36 million tons of CO2 by 2040" from Massachusetts' power plants. (14)

Avangrid, the power line developer, started the permitting process in 2017. The company received all state and federal permitting approvals to begin construction in 2021. But, the project's opponents — nuclear power plant owner NextEra Energy and gas-fired power-plant owners Vistra Corp. and Calpine Corp, along with the Sierra Club and local environmental groups, fought back with a ballot referendum to stop the power line's construction. NextEra spent $20 million, and Vistra and Calpine spent $2 million each on the referendum. (15)

Avangrid, which started building the transmission line, was forced to stop construction while the referendum’s results were being litigated in the courts.

Another example was reported in the New York Times (16). A Texas group, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, raised $25.6 million in 2021 from “coal giant Peabody Energy, Exxon Mobil and Chevron“ and “conservative donors including Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch" to undermine public support and permitting for renewable energy projects. For example, as reported by the Times, the foundation has given money to support commercial fishing companies that seek to stop Vinyard Wind's 1600 MW offshore wind farm near the Massachusetts's and Rhode Island's coasts.

Sen Manchin’s bill addresses delay tactics

The Energy Independence and Security Act (17) does not negate environmental reviews. Instead, it sets time limits for the reviews and court litigation. The bill also designates 25 high-priority projects chosen by the President across a range of clean energy and fossil fuel categories to streamline regulatory analysis. In addition, the bill designates a lead agency to shepherd the permitting filings across multiple federal agencies.

Yes, the law will benefit fossil-fuel projects, especially a natural gas pipeline through West Virginia that Sen. Manchin wants built. But, most importantly, the bill supports all projects, including offshore wind, onshore wind, solar PV, energy storage, transmission power lines, and mining for critical metals such as lithium.

Environmental activists must compromise to save the planet from greenhouse gas warming

The progressive democrats are deciding whether or not to support the Manchin bill. Rep. Raul Grijalva, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Ro Kanna have announced they will oppose adding Manchin’s permitting bill to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

This decision is short-sighted. Yes, we need environmental regulatory reviews. However, we cannot let the fossil-fuel industry take advantage of the permitting processes to block the transition to clean energy and carbon emission reduction.

When the economy transitions to clean energy, there will be a lower demand for fossil fuels. So, let’s stay focused on that goal.

If a bill does not pass now, when will it pass? It is unimaginable that permitting reforms will see the light of day when Republicans control the House of Representatives in the next two years. Compromise is needed to cut carbon emissions now.

"But the truth is that we could win every other fight that we face and if we lose the climate fight, the other victories will be pyrrhic. I don't think even people who are worried about climate change quite understand the scale and speed with which we're now shifting the planet." ~ Bill McKibben

Additional research sources

America’s Clean Energy Transition Requires Permitting Reform: Policy Recomendations for Success by the Progressive Policy Institute
How does permitting for clean energy infrastructure work? by the Brookings Institute
Why Is It So Hard to Build in America? Blame Red Tape by Bloomberg
Energy Permitting Needs Reform by Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA
Maine should welcome clean, reliable, affordable hydropower by David Vail, a Bowdoin College economics professor emeritus and a Citizens’ Climate Lobby activist, and Lloyd Irland, a faculty member at the Yale School of the Environment and past director of the Maine Bureau of Public Lands and Maine state economist.
Progressives Should Rally Around a Clean Energy Construction Boom by David Wallace-Wells for the New York Times

Footnotes

(1) Senate Moves Ahead on US Funding After Manchin Drops Energy Bid by Bloomberg

(2) FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Leadership to Tackle the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad Galvanizes Unprecedented Momentum at Start of U.N. Climate Conference (COP27).

(3) FACT SHEET: The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors working together to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and keep temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius

(4) “The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to more than double U.S. clean energy production (e.g., solar, wind, battery storage, and more), save families hundreds of dollars per year on energy costs, and create millions of good-paying jobs, all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 gigaton in 2030 – 10 times more climate impact than any other U.S. legislation ever enacted. This law also leans in on ensuring communities are prepared for climate impacts already here, by funding coastal resilience, drought, and tools to help communities make science-backed decisions.” This description is from the above-referenced FACT SHEET (FootNote 1).

(5) “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) [also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] delivers record support for upgrading the power grid to transmit more clean energy and withstand extreme weather, building a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers, expanding public transit and passenger rail, investing in drought and wildfire preparedness, and cleaning up legacy pollution.” This description is from the above-referenced FACT SHEET (FootNote 1).

(6) The Energy Act of 2020 expands research and development for energy efficiency technologies, nuclear energy (including fusion), renewable energy, energy storage, electricity grid modernization, and carbon capture.

(7) CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 funds advanced energy science and technology research.

(8) Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022. A detailed summary of the bill was “prepared by the Majority Staffs of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee”. Federal permitting will be streamlined by designating a single lead agency to coordinate among all relevant agencies and set deadlines for agencies and court reviews. The bill also “requires the President to designate, within 90 days of enactment, 25 energy projects of strategic national importance for priority Federal review.”

(9) The Site Act. “To amend the Federal Power Act to establish a procedure for the siting of certain interstate electric transmission facilities, and for other purposes.”

(10) Permitting Reform for the Clean Energy Future by the House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC)

(11) Federal Environmental Review and Authorization Inventory Excel spreadsheet

(12) Resident group opposes solar proposal for Candlewood Mountain. “Rescue Candlewood Mountain was created in July, shortly after Massachusetts-based Ameresco filed the petition with the state Siting Council to install about 75,000 solar panels…”

(13) “The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is the largest clean energy project in New England. Once the transmission line is in service, it will deliver 1,200 megawatts of clean, reliable power from Canada to Maine and the region. The project consists of 145 miles of new transmission line that will tie into the existing transmission system in Lewiston, ME.”

(14) War between energy titans could shape New England climate. “For five years, two of the world’s largest power companies have been locked in an all-out battle over the future of New England’s electric grid. The outcome could determine the fate of the region’s decarbonization efforts for decades.”

(15) War between energy titans could shape New England climate.

(16) The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action. “The Texas Public Policy Foundation is shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal action in a bid to promote fossil fuels.”

(17) One-page summary of Senator Manchin’s permitting reform bill.

This Executive Brief was first posted on Substack.

Congress must work with Sen. Manchin to pass permitting reform