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The White House wants to accelerate approval of projects ranging
from power transmission to wind and solar farms as it seeks to
decarbonize the power sector to fight climate change, and is
eager to tout its "Investing in America" agenda ahead of the
November presidential election.
"We've been really pushing ourselves to use our executive
authority wherever possible to improve the federal permitting
process," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian
said in an interview.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's plan identified 31 million
acres (12.5 million hectares) best suited for solar development
in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah,
Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
The lands identified have high solar potential and low conflicts
with wildlife and plant habitats, giving projects proposed in
these locations a jumpstart on permitting.
The White House also said the Environmental Protection Agency
had conditionally approved a rule creating emissions reduction
credits for companies in Maricopa County, Arizona to transition
vehicle fleets to cleaner alternatives. Those credits can be
sold to the owners of planned semiconductor factories in the
region to offset air emissions and help the area comply with
federal air quality standards, the White House said.
The EPA is tasked with approving state plans to reduce pollution
in areas like Maricopa County, home to Arizona's capital of
Phoenix, because it has elevated ozone emissions.
The county has attracted an influx of investment in chip
manufacturing from companies like Intel and Taiwan's TSMC tied
to federal incentives, and the new credits will help those
facilities get up and running, the White House said.
The administration said the plan will add to gains it has
already made in speeding environmental permitting, which it said
had so far shaved six months from the median time required to
complete a review.
It added U.S. agencies had permitted more projects than the
administration of former President Donald Trump, who is
challenging Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential
election.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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