In the News
Hey, hey, everybody. This is Volts for February 14, 2024, Valentine's Day— happy Valentine's Day, everyone — "The Democrats' new consensus bill would supercharge transmission." I'm your host, David Roberts. When permitting reform came up toward the end of the last session of Congress, was a bit of a dumpster fire. Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting compromise— which would have boosted clean energy and fossil fuel projects alike— sparked intense opposition among both progressives and Republican senators and ended up dying an unceremonious death.
Four members of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Climate Jobs Task Force are leading members in calling on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 21st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board.
A wind and power transmission project, called the largest of its kind in the country, has raised $11 billion in financing, kicking off a year when many utilities are expected to step up much needed spending on the power grid.
Pattern Energy Group has started construction on its SunZia project, a wind farm in central New Mexico, where more than 900 wind turbines will generate over 3,000 megawatts of clean energy. A 550-mile transmission line will bring the power to some three million people in Arizona and California.
She said it. “The immediate economic incentives on the farm just don’t always align with making the right decisions for the climate. That is a textbook case for government intervention.” – New York farmer Ariana Taylor-Stanley, telling members of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition that she knew planting trees on her farm would help sequester carbon, but she couldn’t afford it without USDA conservation assistance.
It’s hard to solve a challenge as sprawling and complex as doubling or tripling the scale of the transmission grids across the U.S. in a little over a decade. But the country’s climate and clean energy goals depend on it.
U.S. Reps. Sean Casten (D-IL) and Mike Levin (D-CA) were among a group of House lawmakers that introduced legislation this week that seeks to accelerate the development of energy transmission lines.
The Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration (CETA) Act addresses what the lawmakers call the biggest challenge facing the United States’ ability to meet its climate goals — the lack of capacity on the electrical grid to connect clean energy generation.
Two generations of IUE-CWA members testified before Congress last week about the power of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) investment in clean jobs to onshore wind energy manufacturing and create the kind of good jobs that a parent can be proud to keep in the family.
Eric Romero Sr. and his son, Eric Romero Jr., members of IUE-CWA Local 81301, traveled from Schenectady, N.Y., to Washington, D.C., to testify before the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition in a roundtable discussion to highlight IRA investments in clean jobs across the country.
Dive Brief:
House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill to spur transmission development, with a focus on interregional and offshore wind lines.
NEW PERMITTING REFORM LEGISLATION: Democratic Reps. Sean Casten and Mike Levin, co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, are out with a new permitting reform measure – likely the last legislative measure overhauling the permitting process to be introduced before the election year.
Democratic Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin of California are set to introduce a bill on Wednesday that would modify the federal permitting system to allow the volume of transmission lines needed to deliver renewable energy to consumers across the country.