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Background
One of the greatest obstacles to the United States’ clean energy transition is our outdated electric grid. The grid we know today was largely built in the 1950s and 1960s to support large, centrally located, utility-owned fossil fuel facilities. As a result, renewable energy and transmission projects face a system of local, state, and federal approval processes ill-equipped to equitably and rapidly build out the energy grid.
Summary
The urgency of the climate crisis demands rapid replacement of fossil fuels with clean electricity—and our energy grid is the linchpin of this transformation. To decarbonize the grid fully and meet the Biden administration’s commitment to achieving 100 percent clean power by 2035, the United States must start deploying clean energy and transmission faster than ever before.
Federal leaders must take executive action now to address multiple sources of delay in clean energy and transmission buildout. State leaders, too, must pass laws that speed up planning and permitting processes while strengthening community engagement and benefits.
Purpose
This report offers a suite of recommendations that the Biden administration and state leaders can take now to build clean energy at the pace demanded by the climate crisis—without waiting for climate-denying Republicans in Congress to offer another bad deal.
This paper offers policies to speed up clean energy deployment so that we can take full advantage of the enormous federal investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). We articulate an approach rooted in the reality of the climate crisis that helps rebalance historic biases away from a fossil-focused grid and advances environmental justice.
What's Inside
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FERC, DOE, and Transmission
Transmission Planning
Interconnection Reform
Backstop Siting for Transmission Lines
Federal Coordination for Transmission Under DOE
Community Participation, Tribal Consultation, and Intervenor Compensation
Community Benefits Agreements
NEPA
Strengthen Early, Meaningful Community Engagement
Conduct Cumulative Impacts
Respect Tribal Sovereignty and Self-Determination
Boost Agency Staff Capacity and Interagency Coordination
Plan Smarter and Review Clean Projects Faster Under NEPA Review
