SEEC-ING PERMITTING REFORM

House Democrats in the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition are putting forward their own permitting proposal that would boost FERC’s siting authority while tightening environmental reviews in disadvantaged communities. Permitting negotiations have largely centered on House Republicans and Senate Democrats, but Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) told the Washington Post that he and his colleagues were “very frustrated” at last Congress’s permitting proposal from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) that “frankly has got a lot of completely unnecessary oil and gas provisions.”

Casten and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) are circulating a discussion draft of their Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act, which is backed by former FERC Chairs Richard Glick and Jon Wellinghoff. The bill would give FERC siting authority for interstate transmission lines with at least 1,000 megawatts of capacity and allocate costs to “all beneficiaries.”