Shriya Pai is a AAAS/Optica/MRS Fellow at the U.S. Senate and a 2024 Clean Energy Leadership Institute Fellow. All views presented in this opinion piece are those of the author alone and should not be seen as position statements by the host office, AAAS, Optica or MRS.
The urgency of the climate crisis demands a swift transition to clean energy. As wildfire seasons worsen, hurricanes intensify and droughts increasingly threaten communities and economies, the need for renewable energy infrastructure becomes clearer by the day. Yet, outdated permitting processes are delaying critical projects, while recent reforms risk further entrenching environmental injustices. Approaches like the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and the proposed Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 reflect a narrow focus on streamlining, often benefiting fossil fuel projects at the expense of thorough environmental oversight and public input.
For a sustainable future, the U.S. must adopt a more just permitting reform model — one that accelerates clean energy projects while centering environmental justice, community engagement, and resilience. This article explores the policies and principles that can guide an equitable permitting process to achieve a fair and effective energy transition.
Current landscape of permitting reform: A double-edged sword
The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, part of a broader debt ceiling agreement, introduced reforms aimed at expediting infrastructure projects by imposing strict deadlines and page limits on environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act. For instance, environmental impact statements now face a two-year deadline and a 300-page limit, while environmental assessments must be completed within a year and kept under 75 pages. Although these measures could, in theory, speed up clean energy projects, they risk sidelining important environmental and public health considerations — especially since developers may now draft their own environmental reviews, a provision within the Act.
The proposed Energy Permitting Reform Act echoes this approach by setting stringent timelines and expanding developer control. While these legislative changes claim to enhance energy independence, they prioritize fossil fuel projects, effectively bypassing comprehensive environmental reviews and limiting public engagement in favor of swift approvals. This emphasis on “cutting red tape” undermines the rigor of environmental assessments and threatens to worsen pollution and environmental degradation in marginalized communities. For example, in Maine, proposed transmission lines have faced significant local resistance, with residents concerned about potential health and environmental impacts.
The risks of a fossil-focused permitting agenda
The timing of these reforms is particularly concerning given the imminent return of a Trump administration and the advancement of Project 2025, a plan that seeks to dismantle environmental regulations slowing fossil fuel projects. This agenda poses a serious setback to achieving both national and global climate goals, risking the possibility of locking in fossil fuel infrastructure that would continue polluting for decades. Communities already facing the brunt of fossil fuel pollution — often low-income and communities of color — would suffer even more under weakened regulatory standards.
A vision for equitable permitting reform
To support a rapid yet fair transition to clean energy, permitting reform must address both the speed of deployment and the protection of vulnerable communities. An equitable permitting framework can accelerate renewable energy project approvals while prioritizing community involvement, environmental justice and public health protections. This framework rests on three principles:
- Transparency and accountability: Clean energy projects should proceed with clear, accessible processes that allow communities to review, understand and influence project impacts.
- Community empowerment and consent: Early and meaningful engagement with impacted communities, particularly those historically marginalized by pollution, is crucial for building trust and reducing opposition to clean energy projects.
- Long-term environmental integrity: Fast-tracking clean energy should not come at the expense of local ecosystems, biodiversity or public health.
Policies for an inclusive permitting process
1. Strengthen agency capacity and coordination
The complexity of permitting reviews often stems not from NEPA itself but from chronic underfunding and staffing shortages at key agencies. The Bureau of Land Management, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service frequently operate with limited staff, which slows the review process. Adequate funding, staffing and training for these agencies are essential to ensuring efficient project reviews. Additionally, interagency coordination on large-scale renewable projects can prevent duplicative reviews and reduce delays. A just permitting framework would allocate funding for these agencies to facilitate timely and thorough reviews without sacrificing environmental integrity.
2. Empower local and indigenous communities through participation and consent
Many communities — especially Indigenous tribes and communities of color — have long been excluded from decisions about projects that impact their lands, health and livelihoods. Reforming permitting processes to prioritize early engagement with affected communities can significantly improve project outcomes. For example, California’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan has accelerated clean energy development by consulting with Indigenous communities to protect sacred and ecologically valuable lands. This early, collaborative approach has led to streamlined project approvals with minimal opposition, demonstrating the effectiveness of genuine community involvement.
Permitting reforms should also incorporate cumulative impact analyses that account for a community’s existing environmental burdens. New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Law provides a model by requiring cumulative impact assessments before new permits are issued in overburdened communities. Federal permitting reform can adopt similar measures to prevent the concentration of pollution in marginalized areas, ensuring that new infrastructure benefits, rather than harms, local residents.
3. Increase transparency and accessibility in the permitting process
A central issue in permitting reform is the lack of transparency in project planning and approval. Renewable energy projects, particularly transmission lines, often face delays and opposition because stakeholders lack sufficient information about project impacts, benefits and timelines. Mandating open, accessible information platforms for all large-scale energy projects could improve transparency and foster public trust. While the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s dashboard for tracking project timelines is a step in the right direction, more comprehensive platforms with public feedback mechanisms and data on environmental impacts would further enhance public involvement.
4. Establish community benefit agreements and equitable revenue sharing
Ensuring that renewable energy projects provide tangible benefits to impacted communities is critical. Community benefit agreements allow developers and local stakeholders to negotiate terms, including local job creation, infrastructure investments and revenue sharing. Maine’s recent approach to transmission projects, which allows local stakeholders to negotiate project benefits, has led to broader community buy-in and fewer delays. Integrating community benefit agreements into the permitting process would help distribute the economic gains of clean energy projects more equitably, fostering stronger community support.
5. Stop new fossil fuel permits
A comprehensive permitting reform agenda must prioritize climate alignment by halting new permits for fossil fuel infrastructure. Continued fossil fuel investment jeopardizes emissions reduction targets and risks undermining national and global climate goals. While some argue that expediting all energy permits is essential for energy security, renewable energy projects alone can and should be the focus of expedited review processes. Limiting permitting reform to clean energy projects ensures that fast-tracked permits support, rather than hinder, climate objectives.
Conclusion: Building a resilient and just energy future
The U.S. has a pivotal opportunity to transform permitting reform into a tool for both climate resilience and environmental justice. Adopting a progressive framework that strengthens agency capacity, centers community consent and prioritizes clean energy can help advance a rapid and equitable energy transition. Recent legislation has shown that permitting reform can be a double-edged sword, either reinforcing fossil fuel dependence or enabling a just, renewable future. The path forward must be intentional, transparent and inclusive, harnessing permitting reform to drive a sustainable energy transition for all communities.
