I was glad to read that permitting reform seems to be moving forward (“Will Biden’s hard-hat environmentalism bridge the divide on clean energy future,” The Columbian, May 20). It takes an average of 4.5 years for federal agencies to complete environmental impact statements for major energy projects. These are important assessments, but we need them to move faster.
In the past decade, the U.S. has expanded our electricity transmission infrastructure at 1 percent per year. The 2023 Summer Reliability Assessment warns that two-thirds of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls this summer. Clark Public Utilities projects a 95-megawatt shortfall after 2028. We need to triple our current capacity to transmit clean electricity by 2050. Otherwise we will only achieve about 20 percent of the potential carbon pollution reduction from the climate policy that is already in place. Permitting reform is critical to meet future clean energy demands.
I call on Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez to support bipartisan permitting reform policies to speed up the approval of clean energy projects that are waiting to be built while still enabling communities to make their voices heard.