Peters’ provisions would boost clean energy production and electric transmission to tackle climate change

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) released the following statement commending Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) on their Permitting Reform Act of 2024:

“I thank Senators Manchin and Barrasso for undertaking this bipartisan effort to streamline the permitting process and make it easier for America to build the energy infrastructure needed to power our booming economy. I am encouraged to see they included bold, meaningful reforms to transmission permitting and planning in their legislation, including core provisions of my SPEED and Reliability Act and BIG WIRES Act, like reducing duplicative reviews, requiring interregional planning, and moving to an applicant-driven process for national interest transmission projects. They also take strong steps to streamline the siting and permitting of clean energy resources on federal lands.

“While this is a strong first step, there is still much work to be done and I look forward to continuing my talks with House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman on our own permitting reform proposal.”

Background:

BIG WIRES Act
Representative Peters’ and Senator Hickenlooper’s 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 Rep. Peters BIG WIRES Act.

SPEED & Reliability Act
Representative Peters’ and Senator Hickenlooper’s 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. 

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