Components of Hickenlooper’s BIG WIRES Act and SPEED & Reliability Act both included
Bipartisan bill, which would speed U.S. transition to clean energy, now heads to the Senate floor
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, celebrated committee passage of thebipartisan permitting proposal put forward by Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso, which includes key policies from Hickenlooper’s BIG WIRES andSPEED & Reliability Act.
The proposal aims to modernize what is all too often a decades-long timeline to build new transmission lines and energy production projects. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for a full vote.
“Red tape and outdated processes are getting in the way of economic growth and our transition to clean energy,” said Hickenlooper. “We’ve got to move with a greater sense of urgency and this is a compromise I think we can all look forward to and vote for with pride.”
Parts of the following Hickenlooper bills are included in the package:
BIG WIRES Act
Hickenlooper and Representative Peters’ BIG Wires Act would update the country’s patchwork energy transmission system by:
- Coordinating construction of an interregional transmission system.
- Establishing minimum-transfer requirements to move large amounts of energy from one U.S. grid region to another.
Manchin and Barrasso’s bipartisan permitting reform proposal requires transmission planning regions to create a strategy to connect U.S. grid regions and speed the development of new interregional transmission lines, drawing on provisions from Hickenlooper’s BIG WIRES Act.
SPEED & Reliability Act
Hickenlooper and Representative Peters’ SPEED and Reliability Act would accelerate the siting and permitting of interregional transmission lines by:
- Allowing individual transmission lines to be deemed as “national interest high-impact transmission facilities.”
- Requiring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to conduct a single environmental review for these transmission lines, rather than requiring duplicative reviews by FERC and the Department of Energy.
Manchin and Barrasso’s bipartisan permitting reform proposal streamlines permitting for interstate electric transmission lines by empowering the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to site transmission lines after one year if they meet certain criteria and by removing duplicative environmental reviews for such lines, just like the SPEED & Reliability Act.
Currently it takes a decade or more to site, permit, and construct essential energy infrastructure like new transmission lines and new energy production like wind and geothermal projects.
Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso’s bipartisan permitting reform bill would streamline the review process for crucial energy projects and interregional transmission lines. It comes at a time when the American energy grid suffers from a lack of true cross-country connection and households are increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and high energy prices.
Full video of the hearing is available HERE.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.
###