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Renewable energy sources, mostly solar and wind, account for 92 percent of planned new energy installations in the U.S., according to a report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
That's progress. But there's a problem. The nation needs new electric transmission lines to make those plans a reality.
The bottleneck is a too-slow permitting process. It takes more than four years, on average, to approve permits for transmission lines. We don't have that much time to waste.
Many planned solar and wind farms are in rural areas. Long distance transmission lines are needed to connect them with population centers where energy demand is greatest. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lacks authority to approve interstate transmission lines. Instead, such lines require state-by-state permit approval.
If we don't build clean energy infrastructure faster, we will only achieve about 20 percent of the potential carbon pollution reduction from climate policies already in place through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, an analysis at Princeton University shows.
These policies could prevent up to 180,000 premature American deaths over the next decade by reducing air pollution, according to Citizens' Climate Lobby.
Urge your federal lawmakers to support permit reform legislation.
DIANE MILLS
Lock Haven
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom