Proposal 4: Protect Frontline Communities

False solution in current permitting reform proposals: Permitting reform proponents in the media often view community engagement and environmental advocacy with scorn and dismissal. But ignoring or steamrolling people affected by energy infrastructure projects will sabotage the long-term collective buy-in we need to transform our energy system. Thoughtful siting practices, active regulatory compliance, taking environmental stewardship seriously, dispelling misinformation, and listening to communities from the beginning are all practices that renewable energy companies can and should undertake in order to preserve and expand their social license to operate in this rapidly changing energy landscape.

• Permitting agencies and developers can facilitate earlier, more substantive community engagement, identify and address possible significant conflicts early on, and dispel misinformation. Read more:
  • The Power of Misinformation in Blocking Clean Energy Reform, FracTracker Alliance (April 2024)
  • Community Engagement Is Fundamental to the Permitting Process, NRDC (September 2023)
  • Uncommon Dialogue | Large-Scale U.S. Solar Development: Integrating Climate, Conservation and Community, Stanford University (2023)
  • Pursuing a Just and Renewable Energy System, Center for Biological Diversity et al (May 2023)
  • Sources of opposition to renewable energy projects in the United States, Lawrence Susskind et al, Energy Policy (June 2022)

• Every branch of government can play a role in preserving legal pathways for the public to oppose fossil energy infrastructure and hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their public harms. Read more:
  • Climate Lawsuits Are Exploding. Are Homicide Charges Next? New York Times (September 2024)
  • The fossil fuel industry ramps up efforts to avoid accountability for climate impacts in court, while simultaneously suing environmental organizations and activists, Greenpeace (June 2024)
  • Democrats refer Big Oil investigation to Justice Department, E&E News (May 2024
  • Big Oil faces a flood of climate lawsuits — and they’re moving closer to trial, Grist (March 2024)
  • The People’s Environmental Law: National Environmental Policy Act, Earthjustice (January 2023)
  • New Federal Anti-SLAPP Legislation Would Protect Activists and Whistleblowers From Abusive Lawsuits, Inside Climate News (September 2022)