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A New Urgency to Improve Siting and Permitting The domestic oil-and-gas boom, expanding renewable energy production, actions to mitigate climate change, and ongoing steps to maintain electricity grid reliability are changing our energy infrastructure needs and driving demand for new TS&D energy infrastructure. Actions to expand both renewable and traditional energy production over the past decade have exposed the gap between typical permitting times for generation and production sources and the much longer times for midstream energy infrastructure. The discrepancy in permitting time frames makes it more challenging to plan, site, permit, finance, and construct midstream energy infrastructure projects. Given these challenges, it is essential to promote more timely permitting decisions while protecting our Nation’s environmental, historic, and cultural resources. While building much of this infrastructure depends on state and local decisions, the Federal Government plays a central role in reviewing and approving applications to site certain projects, including interstate gas pipelines and those that cross Federal lands, or have impacts to wildlife, cultural and historic resources, or waters of the United States. This chapter focuses on that Federal role and the actions taken across the Federal Government to permit and approve energy infrastructure projects and increase the efficiency of the permitting process while improving environmental and community outcomes. Since 2009, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved 90 major transmission line projects, spanning approximately 3,000 total miles, approximately 1,600 miles of which cross BLM-managed lands. Since that time, BLM also has authorized more than nine major pipeline projects for oil, water, and natural gas, with nearly 1,050 miles on BLM lands. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authorized about 4,500 miles of pipeline since 2009, and about 6,200 miles of pipeline have been put in service. Since 2009, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service has financed 5,591 total miles of transmission line, 3,316 miles of which are new transmission line and 2,275 miles are line upgrade and improvements. During the same time period, the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has approved and reauthorized on National Forest System lands 4,921 power line projects covering 31,678 miles; 2,160 natural gas and oil pipelines covering 12,907 miles; and 158 water transmission projects covering 847 miles. For the vast majority of projects, the environmental review and permitting requirements are accomplished effectively and efficiently. For particularly large and complex infrastructure projects, however, the diverse and often divergent sets of agency permit and decision-making responsibilities can lead to friction and create inefficiencies, as well as extend the time frame for the Federal permitting and review process. To drive additional progress in Federal reviews of significant midstream infrastructure projects, the Administration launched a government-wide initiative to modernize the Federal permitting and review process. President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum on August 31, 2011, and an Executive Order on March 22, 2012. 1, 2 In those executive actions, the President directed Federal agencies to improve the efficiency and transparency of Federal permitting and review processes for infrastructure projects, a as well as to cut through red tape and get more timely decisions, while producing measurably better outcomes for communities and the environment. Under that initiative, Federal agencies have expedited the review and permitting of more than 50 selected infrastructure projects, including 11 energy projects. b Thirty-two of these projects have completed the Federal review process, 29 remain under active Federal review, and 1 project was denied. Estimated time savings range from several months to several years in many cases. a As defined in the Presidential Memorandum, infrastructure projects include electricity transmission, pipelines, renewable energy infrastructure, water resource projects, ports and waterways, transit systems, broadband Internet, roads, bridges, railways, and airports. b More information about these projects is posted online on the Federal Infrastructure Projects Permitting Dashboard, which was established pursuant to a 2011 Presidential Memorandum on Speeding Infrastructure Development through More Efficient and Effective Permitting and Environmental Review. See: Federal Infrastructure Projects Permitting Dashboard. “Projects Under Active Review.” www.permits.performance.gov/projects/active-projects. QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015 9-3
Chapter IX: Siting and Permitting of TS&D Infrastructure SUMMARY OF SELECT TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE SITING, PERMITTING, AND REVIEW AUTHORITIES Multiple Federal, state, local, and tribal governments have jurisdiction over siting, permitting, and review of proposed transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure. Projects that involve Federal funds, are proposed on Federal lands, cross Federal land or water, or will affect the air or water quality that is regulated by Federal law are subject to some kind of Federal permitting or review process. The following is a brief summary of some of these legal authorities. ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINES Federal Jurisdiction: • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has limited siting authority pursuant to Section 216 of the Federal Power Act, under limited circumstances within corridors designated by the Department of Energy. Implementation of this authority has been impacted by court decisions. c, d • The Department of Energy has jurisdiction under Section 216(h) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. § 824p(h)) to coordinate applicable Federal authorizations and related environmental reviews for transmission projects. • The Department of Energy has the authority under Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. § 16421) to engage in or to participate with other entities in designing, developing, constructing, operating, maintaining, or owning (1) electric power transmission facilities and related facilities needed to upgrade existing transmission facilities owned by the Western Area Power Administration or Southwestern Area Power Administration, or (2) new electric power transmission facilities and related facilities located within any state in which either operates. • The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (USFS) have the authority under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. §§ 1761–1771) to issue rights of way for electric transmission lines crossing their Federal lands. State Jurisdiction: • States have primary authority over siting, permitting, and review of electric transmission projects. Each state has different procedures to follow for approving a transmission line. Interstate lines must comply with the legal requirements of each state. NATURAL GAS PIPELINES Federal Jurisdiction: • The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has jurisdiction under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act to regulate interstate natural gas pipelines, including siting (15 U.S.C. § 717f(c)). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also required as a lead agency to coordinate the environmental review and processing of all Federal authorizations related to natural gas infrastructure with other Federal agencies (15 U.S.C. § 717n(b)). e • BLM has the authority to issue permits under the Mineral Leasing Act for natural gas pipelines that cross Federal lands (30 U.S.C. § 185). If a proposed pipeline crosses more than one Federal agency’s lands, BLM issues the right-of-way permit (30 U.S.C. § 185(c) and 43 C.F.R. § 2882). If the pipeline crosses only USFS lands, USFS issues a special use permit (36 C.F.R. § 251). State Jurisdiction: • States have jurisdiction over lines that do not carry gas in interstate commerce. c California Wilderness Coal v. U.S. Dep’t of Energy, 631 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2011). d Piedmont Envtl. Council v. FERC 558 F.3d 304 (4th Cir. 2009). e The Department of the Army, et al. “Interagency Agreement on Early Coordination of Required Environmental and Historic Preservation Reviews Conducted in Conjunction with the Issuance of Authorizations to Construct and Operate Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines Certificated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” May 2002. http://www.ferc.gov/ industries/gas/enviro/gas_interagency_mou.pdf. Accessed January 30, 2015. 9-4 QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015
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QUADRENNIAL ENERGY REVIEW: ENERGY T
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Preface In June 2013, through the P
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Presidential Memorandum The White H
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(xx) the Small Business Administrat
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface..........
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LIST OF FIGURES Figure SPM-1. Age b
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Figure 7-7. Conditions Affecting Li
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Summary TRANSFORMING U.S. ENERGY IN
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same systems (e.g., ports and railw
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Aging Infrastructure and Changing R
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Actions taken in the first term of
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Figure SPM-3. Billion-Dollar Disast
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Key Findings Mitigating energy disr
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Recommendations in Brief To continu
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The potential range of new transmis
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Improve grid communication through
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Undertake a study of the relationsh
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• Doubling the size of the Inland
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Key Findings The United States has
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Promote Caribbean energy TS&D infra
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Recommendations in Brief Improve qu
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• Developing curricula and certif
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(2) the Fish and Wildlife Service I
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Table SPM-2. Examples of Federal Me
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Chapter I INTRODUCTION This chapter
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The requirements that this TS&D inf
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Increases in U.S. Oil and Natural G
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Increased Deployment of Renewable E
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Figure 1-3. Percent Change in Retai
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Climate Science The key conclusions
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Figure 1-7. Change in Annual Averag
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Other actions to deploy low-carbon
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Figure 1-8. Historic and Projected
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Government can build and incentiviz
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Notes: 1. Analyses were conducted w
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Organization of the Remainder of th
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Endnotes 1. Edison Electric Institu
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39. Energy Information Administrati
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Chapter II INCREASING THE RESILIENC
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The Importance of Resilient, Reliab
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Figure 2-1. Illustration of Tornado
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Continued increases in extreme weat
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Weather-Related and Other Reliabili
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Drought is also problematic. In 201
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Electricity TS&D Vulnerabilities Va
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Distribution hardening projects are
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Although pipelines above and below
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Safety and Methane Emissions from G
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Indianapolis’ in 2013 (see Figure
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Natural Gas Infrastructure Dependen
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• The changing geography of natur
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ose to greater than $34 per million
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NE MN IA MO WI IL MI IN KY TN OH Gr
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Vulnerability of Fuel Supply Disrup
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Figure 2-8. Earthquake Vulnerabilit
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Liquid Fuel TS&D Dependencies on El
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Results from an Argonne National La
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QER Recommendations (continued) Sup
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QER Recommendations (continued) Ana
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Endnotes 1. Government Accountabili
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31. The Climate Institute. “Water
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63. Global Climate Change Research
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131. Quadrennial Energy Review Anal
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Chapter III MODERNIZING THE ELECTRI
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The Electric Grid in Transition The
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esources, including central station
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demand; and the costs of alternativ
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In the Southwest, transmission buil
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Pumped hydro storage currently repr
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Resilience investments can require
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Communication with Customer Devices
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and maintenance of the interconnect
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technical experts to develop a set
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Table 3-2. Taxonomy of Utility Busi
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Figure 3-6. Select Electricity Juri
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QER Recommendations The Administrat
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QER Recommendations (continued) Coo
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RECOMMENDATIONS IN BRIEF: Modernizi
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48. North American Electric Reliabi
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Chapter IV MODERNIZING U.S. ENERGY
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A Broad and Collective View of Ener
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States was forecast to become highl
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Changing Global and Domestic Oil Ma
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QER Recommendations SPR MODERNIZATI
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Biofuels and TS&D Infrastructure Is
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QER Recommendations TS&D INFRASTRUC
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The United States and Canada share
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Endnotes 1. Foreign Affairs, Trade
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Chapter V IMPROVING SHARED TRANSPOR
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Increased Use of Shared Transport I
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There are several reasons for this
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Congestion and Competition among Co
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Coal Transportation by Rail Coal re
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Ethanol Transportation by Rail Etha
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QER Recommendations RAIL TRANSPORT
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Figure 5-6. Annual Refinery Receipt
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Funding mechanisms for maintaining
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Inland shippers that want to move a
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DOT reports that connecting roads t
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Uncertainty in U.S. Coal Exports U.
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capacities of 1.5 MW to 2.5 MW, 103
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QER Recommendations PORTS, HARBORS
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QER Recommendations (continued) MOD
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Endnotes 1. Department of Agricultu
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39. Quadrennial Energy Review Analy
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75. Army Corps of Engineers, Planni
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111. Department of Energy. “Wind
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Chapter VI INTEGRATING NORTH AMERIC
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Benefits of North American Energy S
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TS&D infrastructure already plays a
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for electric transmission facilitie
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35, 36 Figure 6-5. U.S. Natural Gas
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pumped hydropower storage could pro
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QER Recommendations NORTH AMERICAN
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Administration Activities and Plans
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Risk and Resilience in the Caribbea
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QER Recommendations CARIBBEAN ENERG
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Endnotes 1. Molburg, J.C., J.A. Kav
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Chapter VI: Integrating North Ameri
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