WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 When John Podesta left his job as an adviser to President Barack Obama nearly a decade ago, he was confident that hundreds of miles of new power transmission lines were coming to the Southwest, expanding the reach of clean energy throughout the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Podesta was shocked to learn last year, as\u00a0he reentered the federal government to work on climate issues\u00a0for President Joe Biden, that the lines had never been built. They still hadn\u2019t even received final regulatory approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese things get stuck and they don\u2019t get unstuck,\u201d Podesta said in an interview with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Podesta is now the point person for untangling one of Biden\u2019s most vexing challenges as he pursues\u00a0ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0If the president cannot streamline the permitting process for power plants, transmission lines and other projects, the country is unlikely to have the infrastructure needed for a future powered by carbon-free electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue has become an unlikely feature of high-stakes\u00a0budget talks\u00a0underway between the White House and House Republicans as they try to avoid a\u00a0first-ever default\u00a0on the country\u2019s debt by the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether a deal on permitting can be reached in time is unclear, with Republicans looking for ways to boost oil drilling and Democrats focused on clean energy. But its mere presence on the negotiating table is a sign of how political battle lines are shifting. Although American industry and labor unions have long chafed at these kinds of regulations, some environmentalists have now grown exasperated by red tape as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That represents a stark change for a movement that has been more dedicated to slowing development than championing it, and it has caused unease among longtime allies even as it creates the potential for new partnerships. Still, this transformation is core to Biden\u2019s vision of hard-hat environmentalism, which promises that shifting away from fossil fuels will generate blue-collar jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to start building things again in America,\u201d Podesta said. \u201cWe got too good at stopping things, and not good enough at building things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What gets built, of course, is the question that\u2019s the central hurdle for any agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue of permitting emerged last year during negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who was a key vote for\u00a0the Inflation Reduction Act, far-reaching legislation that includes financial incentives for clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manchin pushed a separate proposal that would make it easier to build infrastructure for renewable energy and fossil fuels. His focus has been the\u00a0Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would carry natural gas through his home state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans called the legislation a \u201cpolitical payoff.\u201d Liberal Democrats described it as a \u201cdirty side deal.\u201d\u00a0Manchin\u2019s idea stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, Elizabeth Gore, senior vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the senator \u201cgets a lot of credit for really elevating this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was his effort that really put this issue on the map,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, the Capitol has been awash in proposals to alleviate permitting bottlenecks. House Republicans passed their own\u00a0as part of budget legislation last month, aiming to increase production of oil, natural gas and coal. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., recently introduced another proposal geared toward clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think there is a path forward,\u201d Gore said, describing all the ideas \u201cas stepping stones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was also optimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe hurdle isn\u2019t whether people think it\u2019s a good idea or not,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hurdle is getting the details worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite broad interest in permitting changes, reaching a deal will likely involve trade-offs that are difficult for Democrats and environmentalists to stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans want to see more fossil fuels and, now that they control the House, no proposal will advance without their consent. But too many concessions to Republicans in the House could jeopardize support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden has frustrated environmentalists by\u00a0approving Willow, an oil drilling project in an untouched swath of Alaskan wilderness. After Podesta finished a speech on permitting at a Washington think tank this month, activists rushed to block his vehicle with a white banner that said \u201cend fossil fuels\u201d in bold black letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Podesta argues that it\u2019s impossible to immediately phase out oil and gas, and he said the status quo won\u2019t suffice when it comes to building clean energy infrastructure. He points to\u00a0federal data analyzed by the Brookings Institution\u00a0that found permitting transmission lines can take seven years, while natural gas pipelines take less than half that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was circumspect when asked about where the negotiations may lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is bipartisan interest in the topic,\u201d Podesta said. \u201cWhere any of that ends, I can\u2019t predict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A deal could bolster Biden\u2019s political coalition by easing tension between between environmentalists and labor unions, which have often been frustrated by objections to projects that would lead to jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve unnecessarily taken food off the table of my members,\u201d said Sean McGarvey, president of the North America\u2019s Building Trades Unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The relationship with environmentalists \u201ccould turn into an alliance depending on how this process ends,\u201d he said, but \u201cwe\u2019ve got to do some good business to see if we\u2019re inviting each other for barbecues and crab picks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other factions of the green movement have already expressed frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration made a mistake by allowing Manchin\u2019s proposal to be a starting point. The White House, he said, \u201cnegotiated away the game at the beginning and put the football on the 2-yard line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also criticized Podesta\u2019s approach to permitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dogmatically saying that environmentalists are the problem here,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to caricature environmental legislation as the boogeyman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historians trace the American regulatory system to a backlash against massive infrastructure initiatives in the middle of the 20th century, such as the interstate highway system and a series of dams. The projects raised concerns about environmental impacts and left local communities feeling steamrolled. More fears about ecological damage were sparked by an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and fires on the polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result was the National Environmental Policy Act, signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970 to require federal agencies to consider the environmental ramifications of their decisions. State-level laws, such as the California Environmental Quality Act, proliferated at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a system that works for what it was designed to do,\u201d said Christy Goldfuss, chief policy impact officer at the Natural Resource Defense Council. \u201cWhat we\u2019re looking at doing is optimizing that system for the future we need. And that\u2019s a fundamentally different conversation than anything we\u2019ve had before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly difficult shift to make for the environmental movement,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think everybody is going to make it. Some organizations are going to continue to stand in the way of development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what about that transmission lines in the Southwest that Podesta was counting on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The goal is to span about 520 miles, carrying electricity from a series of turbines in New Mexico that\u2019s being billed as the largest wind project in the hemisphere. The lines were rerouted to satisfy the Department of Defense, which tests weapons in the area, but local conservationists still say that natural habitats will be threatened by construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, nearly two decades after the initial proposal, the federal government announced it had\u00a0approved the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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