Senate Energy Joe Manchin and a panel of experts agree on their frustration over the lengthy approval process for electric transmission lines and natural gas pipelines.
“Permitting reform is essential for more reliable and affordable energy and to make our country more secure,” Manchin, D-W.Va., said today during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The hearing focused on possibilities for Congress to reform the process for permitting electric transmission lines, pipelines, and energy production on federal lands.
Manchin showed a chart depicting a nine-year timeline for approval in the current process. He contended elements of permitting reform could shorten that to four years. He pitched the possibility of eliminating duplicative reviews by consolidating permitting at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Do you think we should consolidate the federal backstop citing process so there’s a single environmental and national interest review at FERC?” Manchin asked.
Manchin, in his introductory remarks, noted that the debt ceiling deal passed last month by Congress included elements of permitting reform, such as firm deadlines to complete reviews and requirements that agencies work together on a single environmental review. But Manchin said permitting reform is not finished.
“This includes responsibly addressing issues that are slowing down or blocking energy infrastructure critical for energy security and reliability, like pipelines and transmission lines,” Manchin said.
The senator expressed frustration that big interstate electric transmission lines aren’t being built. He said those transmission lines are a key to electric reliability, particularly during large-scale weather events.
“Long-distance transmission and interconnectivity enables power to move to where it’s needed. As we’ve seen in Texas and other parts of the country, the areas that need the power aren’t just blue states with aggressive climate targets that some of us might not agree with,” he said.
One of the panelists, Antonio Smyth of American Electric Power, said the nation’s power system is in the middle of a fundamental transformation driven by an aging grid as well as changes in the consumption and production of energy.
“The confluence of these changes means far greater complexity for grid operators and planners as we seek to make long-term investments that balance system reliability with customer affordability and environmental sustainability,” said Smyth, AEP’s executive vice president for grid solutions and government affairs.
He urged Congress to:
- encourage the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reform both regional and interregional transmission planning processes to incorporate longer-term planning time horizons of about 20 years, include standardized and expansive planning scenarios, and consider a wider range of benefits over a long timeframe to better reflect the value of the life of the assets being put into service.
- encourage FERC to ensure that cost allocation is aligned with benefits. However, he said the benefit metrics used for both regional and
interregional projects need to be expanded to encompass all reliability, security, and economic benefits of the grid. Expanding and defining benefit metrics will help optimize transmission investments across the country, he said. - pursue efficient, and effective siting and permitting processes. He said reforms to other federal permitting processes should include establishing reasonable time limits for agency decisions, ensuring agencies have sufficient staff to review permits, and initiating litigation
reforms. Such reforms, designed to expedite the existing review processes, can be achieved without reducing the quality of the environmental review, he said.
“If we proactively address these challenges with appropriate and targeted reforms, it will help us achieve a coordinated and reliable energy transition that benefits customers and advances our economy,” Smyth told members of the Senate committee.