The historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)2 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act3 (IIJA) represent the greatest opportunity in American history to dramatically reduce carbon emissions while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, reshoring a domestic manufacturing base, and reinvesting in the communities affected the most by energy development. [...] But this work is far from complete, and policymakers and stakeholders across the ideological spectrum have identified the lack of transmission infrastructure and siting and permitting reforms as two of the most important priorities to ensure the promise of the IRA is fully realized. [...] The Biden administration has made it a “national energy policy”8 to transition to “a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035.”9 Without the ability to permit and build the necessary transmission lines over the next decade to integrate clean energy to the grid, meeting that goal will be impossible. [...] Finally, SEIA supports a final rule that considers the size of a project in determining who may be considered an affected landowner under the definition Proposed in § 900.2(1).19 SEIA supports a final rule that considers the scale of the project, geographic considerations, and resource usage of landowners in determining whether a landowner is an “affected landowner” under the rule’s definition. [...] The Proposed Rule Offers Earlier Intervention of Federal Agencies but Amount of Information Required in the Resource Reports Must be Appropriate for the Early Scoping Process SEIA supports the Proposed Rule providing for earlier intervention of Federal agencies.20 The Integrated Interagency Preapplication (IIP) requires applicants to meet with relevant agencies prior to application submission to e.
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