“The waiting is the hardest part / Every day you get one more yard / You take it on faith, you take it to the heart / The waiting is the hardest part”
Tom Petty
Imagine planning a renovation or construction project for months, then getting stopped in your tracks because of a permit delay. The frustration is real on a regular basis for home and business owners. Hurry up and wait is a common theme with clean energy projects too. Luckily, permitting reform is in the works.
Why do we need permitting reform?
It seems the federal government’s energy permitting process is slow and antiquated. And, at a time when we need to transition quickly from oil and gas, delays are choking progress on renewables. Private investment in the clean energy market is thriving, but the projects need a pathway to completion in order for continued growth. Luckily, help may be on the way – a bipartisan bill tackling energy permitting reform is working its way through Congress.
Bipartisanship means compromise
By definition, bipartisanship requires compromise. In other words, nobody gets everything they want. In this case, in order to ease permitting on clean energy projects and transmission infrastructure, there is an agreement to green-light a few fossil fuel projects. As you can imagine, people on the extreme ends of the political spectrum are not pleased.
Do I love everything about this bill? No. But in my view, when it comes to solving climate change, we can’t let perfect be the enemy of good. As Jesse Jenkins, a macro-energy systems engineering professor at Princeton University wrote, there is “no transition without transmission”. He is an expert in the field, and believes the climate benefits of the bill outweigh the costs.
Where do things stand?
The bill passed committee, and the next step is the Senate. It won’t be an easy lift, especially with the election looming. But this is an example of the boring stuff that is critically important if we want to solve climate change. For the sake of progress, I hope it moves forward in some form.
What can we do?
Members of congress are motivated to act based on what their constituents want. Few people take the time to tell them, making each call or email meaningful. So, we can help by educating ourselves about the legislation, and contacting our Senators to offer an opinion. This kind of engagement matters.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.