The summer 2024 Citizens’ Climate Lobby conference in Washington, D.C. was a great success. As part of that event, 442 information-packed meetings were held with elected officials.

Following up on those meetings, we need your help. Follow the link to email your elected officials to urge them boost transmission projects, improve early community involvement, and to speed up the pace with which the U.S. builds and deploys new clean energy projects.

This is a simple task but exceedingly important. For without permitting reform, roughly half of the potential carbon pollution reductions from the Inflation Reduction Act will be lost.

Just like you need a building permit to expand your home, big energy projects must get written approval from local, state, and/or federal authorities to start construction. There are three key parts to successful energy permitting reform:

Siting/building clean energy projects

Right now, it takes an average of 4.5 years for federal agencies just to complete environmental impact statements for major energy projects. These are important assessments, but we need them to move faster and speed up the pace with which we build new clean energy projects. Congress took the first steps to address this in the June 2023 debt ceiling bill.

Transmitting that clean energy across the country

Thanks to tax credits passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, development of new solar and wind energy projects will grow exponentially. But building them is only part of the challenge – they also need to be connected to the grid to move power to the houses and businesses that need them. Ultimately, we need to triple our current capacity to transmit clean electricity by 2050.

Involving local communities

Better permitting allows local communities to give their input on energy projects early in the process and choose good projects over bad ones. Good projects should be approved faster, harmful projects should be rejected faster, and all new projects should safeguard the lives and health of people living nearby.

Thank you for taking the time to email your elected representatives!