Daniel Palken on the Bipartisan Senate Bill to Reform Energy Permitting

Daniel Palken (0:04)

Starting really with the Energy Act of 2020, which happened in the late first Trump administration, there was this golden era of authorizing and appropriating legislation that focused almost entirely on setting aside funds and then spending money for largely clean technologies. I think what people found was that merely pouring money into the problem without fixing some of the permitting and administrative and infrastructural challenges in the way actually did not achieve the intended goals. And then on top of that, of course, the politics didn't prove as durable as people thought.

Jason Bordoff (0:39)

Permitting reform is one of the energy issues that climate advocates and energy developers both say they want. Faster approvals for new projects. With demand for power climbing, the pressure to act is as strong as it has been in years. Now a new bipartisan effort is on the table. Last month, leaders of the Senate's two main energy and environment committees reached a bipartisan agreement on the most significant permitting overhaul in decades. At its core, it would make it easier to build energy infrastructure across the board. It would shorten the window for legal challenges, tighten environmental review deadlines, strengthen federal authority to approve interstate transmission lines, and restrict the government's power to revoke permits once they are issued. Reactions have been mixed. Industry groups and unions have welcomed the bill. But some environmental and climate groups have raised concerns. And with supporters hoping for a Senate vote right after the November elections, the clock is ticking. So what's actually in the bill? How might it speed up energy project build out and streamline development? What are some of the objections to the bill? And how does it address the key environmental review processes? And what does the bill and the disparate reactions to it tell us about where US energy policy may be going in the longer term?

This is Columbia Energy Exchange, a weekly podcast from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. I'm Jason Bordoff.

Today on the show, Daniel Palken. Daniel is the Director of Infrastructure for Energy and Permitting at Arnold Ventures. Prior to his current role, he worked in the US Senate, most recently as a professional staff member for the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. And prior to that, as the Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Hickenlooper of Colorado for Energy, Climate and Minerals issues. Daniel joined me to discuss the core provisions of the bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act and how it would accelerate environmental review for everything from transmission lines to geothermal and other renewable projects to oil and gas infrastructure.

And we considered the arguments against the bill and the concerns it could weaken environmental safeguards or fail to accelerate the energy transition. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Daniel Palken, welcome to Columbia Energy Exchange for the first time. It is great to have you on.

Daniel Palken (3:05)

Yeah. Long time listener, first time caller, real pleasure to be on the show, Jason.

Jason Bordoff (3:09)

I'm really excited to talk to you. It took a little longer to schedule. That was probably my fault than I would have hoped because you were the first person I thought to call when this permitting reform deal was announced by leaders in the Senate.

In between then and when we are talking now, you have already had a very extensive conversation. I'm not sure which is longer, the new Musk documentary or your conversation with Dave Roberts on volts, which was fantastic and went into a lot of details. I will point to that and encourage people if they want a huge amount of detail to listen to it. But I want to pick up on some of that.

A little bit of a higher level too. Some people listening may be following every piece of the minutia of this permitting reform deal and the objections to it, and the arguments in favor of it. Some may not, and especially want to give you a chance to respond to some of the objections that are coming up as this bill seems to fracture at least some parts of the environmental left. But you and everyone at Arnold Ventures have done a huge amount of work on it and appreciate that. Thanks for making time to be with us.

Daniel Palken (4:12)

Yeah. This is the culmination of a lot of people's work. Obviously, our organization has been one of the many involved in this. Most of all, it owes to the members of the Senate and the House before them, who have worked on iterations of permitting bills that have come to fruition here. The four sponsor offices and their staff who have toiled namelessly behind the scenes on this.