Proposal 1: Accelerate Clean Energy Technology

False solution in current permitting reform proposals: According to the supply-side liberals advocating for permitting reform proposals that would weaken NEPA, federal environmental review processes are holding the clean energy transition back. They say that if we want to speed things up, we need to gut NEPA for fossil fuels as well as renewables, and loosen other safeguards. But deregulation is the wrong approach, enabling corporations to cut corners and evade accountability when they harm people and planet, and allowing profit instead of the public interest to guide energy planning. Oil and gas companies have already benefited from a “build first, regulate later” approach that has left hazardous fracking fluids under-regulated to this day, imperiling drinking water sources, and allowed companies to evade responsibility for plugging hundreds of thousands of leaky orphaned wells around the country. This deep into the climate crisis, we can’t afford to repeat history’s mistakes. There are better alternatives:

• Through the appropriations process at the federal and state level, legislatures can enable permitting agencies to hire more civil servants to handle the permitting process. Read more:
  • Permitting Reform’s False Choice, David E. Adelman (August 2023)
  • Choosing between Environmental Standards and a Rapid Transition to Renewable Energy Is a False Dilemma, Roosevelt Institute (May 2023)
  • Playing the Long Game: Expediting Permitting Without Compromising Protections, Jamie Pleune, Environmental Law Reporter (November 2022)
  • Evidence-Based Recommendations for Improving National Environmental Policy Act Implementation, John Ruple, Jamie Pleune, and Erik Heiny, University of Utah College Of Law Research Paper (November 2021)

• Utility regulators and legislatures can require or incentivize utilities to purchase more clean energy, faster. Read more:
  • Entrenched Power: How Shareholder-Owned Electric Utilities Hinder the Clean Energy Transition, Roosevelt Institute (September 2024) 
  • Demanding Better: How Growing Demand For Electricity Can Drive a Cleaner Grid, Sierra Club (September 2024)
  • How to Restructure Utility Incentives: The Four Pillars of Comprehensive Performance-Based Regulation, RMI (2024)
  • Shifting Utilities’ Incentives For Equity and Affordability, Virginia Conservation Network
  • TVA Can Lead The Way, Center for Biological Diversity

• Utilities can upgrade existing transmission wires. This effort can be bolstered by utility regulators and legislation at the state and federal level. Read more:
  • The 2035 Report: Reconductoring With Advanced Conductors Can Accelerate The Rapid Transmission Expansion Required For A Clean Grid, Energy Innovation, GridLab, and UC Berkeley (April 2024)
  • Accelerating Transmission Expansion by Using Advanced Conductors in Existing Right-of-Way, Emilia Chojkiewicz et al, Energy Institute (February 2024)

• State legislatures can address local-level bans on clean energy adoption. Read more:
  • Down to the Wire: Progressive Permitting Reforms Will Accelerate Renewable Energy and Transmission Buildout and Help Meet U.S. Climate Targets, NRDC (September 2023)
  • Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States: May 2023 Edition, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

• Developers and permitting agencies can involve communities earlier and more substantively in the planning process to avoid later opposition. Read more:
  • Halfway up the ladder: Developer practices and perspectives on community engagement for utility-scale renewable energy in the United States, Robi Nilson, Joseph Rand, Ben Hoen, and Salma Elmallah, Energy Research & Social Science (November 2024)
  • Not Just Talk: Next-Level Community Engagement in Renewable Energy, NRDC (July 2024)
  • A Liberalism That Builds Power, David Dayen, The American Prospect (May 2023)