NEPA modernization empowers offshore wind development – Washington Examiner

In a regulatory breath of fresh air, the Council on Environmental Quality recently proposed meaningful updates to the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time since the Carter administration.

Advocates of new and dynamic energy solutions for climate and environmental challenges should resoundingly applaud these efforts. NEPA modernization can balance energy growth with environmental considerations and ensure that emerging energy frontiers, including offshore wind, are not stifled through decades-old bureaucratic red tape.

Developing energy projects are a massive undertaking on engineering and technical merits alone; throw in a byzantine regulatory process and the task can be almost impossible. NEPA is almost omnipresent during the permitting and review process for any massive infrastructure project. Any major federal action that is likely to have a significant impact on the environment requires an environmental impact statement.

While environmental impact statements are necessary, it is important to ensure that they are not duplicitous and are not susceptible to politically driven litigation. The average impact statement takes 4.5 years to complete, and NEPA leads all other environmental statutes in the number of lawsuits that are filed under its provisions. The entire spectrum of critical infrastructure projects, ranging from highways and bridges to transmission lines to energy production projects, are at risk without NEPA reform. The current regulatory uncertainty deters future investment in the projects that tangibly improve the quality of life for every American.

Take, for example, the ascendant U.S. offshore wind industry. The United States is on the verge of a nearly $70 billion offshore wind supply chain by 2030, but regulatory uncertainty, in part due to an outdated NEPA model, is delaying progress.

The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts symbolizes how delicate new industries are, and how susceptible to onerous regulations and short-sighted litigation. Vineyard Wind is supposed to be the nation's first utility-scale offshore wind project, but the secretary of the interior is having to work through a broken NEPA process to ensure that the rising offshore wind industry does not fall victim to unfounded litigation.

Vineyard Wind is a project that both Democrats and Republicans stand behind. The $2.8 billion project will put 3,600 locals to work and power nearly 1 million homes, saving New England residents nearly $3.7 billion.

The ripples from an outdated NEPA process could impact other offshore wind projects. New infrastructure is required up and down the Atlantic coast to accommodate multiple large-scale wind projects, and there could be an unnecessary and unreasonable domino effect instigated by a flawed NEPA process. These potential bottlenecks could cascade and jeopardize the creation of 160,000 direct, indirect or induced jobs thanks to offshore wind by 2050.

The proposed NEPA revisions provide a more certain regulatory path forward for projects such as Vineyard Wind. By establishing a two-year limit on environmental impact statements, requiring joint schedules and a single record of decision, strengthening the role of the lead agency, and facilitating the use of categorical exclusions or environmental assessments, lawmakers can streamline NEPA without sacrificing the spirit and efficacy of the law. Finally, we'll actually get to work on vital projects under the updated NEPA.

American potential is limitless; it should not be constrained by bureaucratic red tape. Any successful effort to modernize American infrastructure and build up the next generation of energy production, including offshore wind, needs a smart and responsive regulatory and permitting regime. The offshore wind industry is poised for development, and NEPA reforms can ensure that Americans can count on its benefits sooner rather than much, much later.

Erik Milito is president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

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NEPA modernization empowers offshore wind development - Washington Examiner