Components of Hickenlooper’s BIG WIRES Act and SPEED & Reliability Act both included
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper cheered the bipartisan permitting proposal put forward by Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso, which includes key policies from Hickenlooper’s BIG WIRES and SPEED &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 American economy is the envy of the world. But we won’t keep that lead if we can’t keep up with our energy needs,” said Hickenlooper. “Red tape and outdated processes are holding back our economic growth and our transition to clean energy. This bill will deliver the true promise of the IRA.”
Parts of the following Hickenlooper bills were 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.
Specifically, the permitting reform bill would:
- Protect Clean Energy Projects: The bill reduces legal risks that add costs and uncertainty to new energy projects by lowering the statute of limitations for court challenges to 150 days, ensuring that clean energy projects progress without excessive delay.
- Accelerate Energy Reviews: The bill speeds up review for clean energy projects, including geothermal, electric transmission, and solar projects on degraded land, accelerating clean energy deployment and incentivizing development away from our most pristine landscapes.
- Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains: The bill puts forward a common-sense compromise to reduce legal risks to new critical minerals projects while establishing safeguards that protect communities and ecosystems.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.
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