SEEC releases Policy Brief on Permitting Reform for the Clean Energy Future

Washington D.C. – Today, the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), under the leadership of Co-Chairs Reps. Gerry Connolly, Doris Matsui, and Paul Tonko and Vice Chairs Reps. Matt Cartwright, Alan Lowenthal, A. Donald McEachin, Chellie Pingree, and Mike Quigley, released a policy brief for consideration in the ongoing permitting reform discussions that details a positive vision for what permitting reform should look like to enable the clean energy future.

The brief focuses on two primary pillars: electric transmission reform and increased community engagement in the permitting process. Under each of these two categories, the brief lays out the problems that need to be tackled and specific legislation that already exists to address them.

You can read the policy brief here.

The introduction to the brief reads in part: "[The Inflation Reduction Act] provided the incentives and financing needed to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy at the pace necessary to meet the crisis we face. With those investments now in hand, the next task ahead of us is ensuring that federal permitting laws that were written for the fossil fuel era work for the new clean energy age that we are now entering.

"To this end, we have welcomed the many and varied voices who have shared both their concerns and support regarding various aspects of the permitting reform conversation that Congress has engaged in since the passage of IRA. Building out the requisite clean energy infrastructure as quickly and as equitably as possible can only be achieved if disadvantaged communities are properly engaged in the permitting process, rather than ignored and disproportionately burdened, as has happened all too often in the past. The need for this engagement is true not just for the permitting process but also for the legislative process. We have attempted to take into account what we have heard from these groups that share our goal of achieving a clean energy future and use that to inform this policy brief."