Obama Administration Reaches New Accord On Transmission Siting

By Siobhan Hughes - DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

The Obama administration on Wednesday outlined another deal on approving transmission projects, aiming to speed a process that tends to drag on for years. Under the deal, relevant agencies, including the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will simultaneously review permit applications. Currently, applications are handled in sequence, with agencies taking up a review only after earlier reviews are completed. A single agency will have primary authority for each application, depending on the location of the project.

"For many years the bureaucratic approval process has held up projects," said Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, one of the signatories of the memorandum of understanding.

The coordinated review process grew out of months of cabinet-level talks. Earlier this year, the Interior Department and FERC reached an agreement on oversight of offshore wind and tidal farms, under which FERC has primary authority for siting offshore wave energy projects. Besides Interior, FERC, and CEQ, the Energy Department, the Agriculture Department, the Commerce Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation signed on to the memorandum of understanding.

No agency will give up its authority under the agreement. For example, if a transmission line were planned primarily on land overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, the forest service would have primary responsibility.

Separately, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that seven projects with pending permit applications are being reviewed on a "fast-track" basis. He said that he expects the seven projects, planned for Idaho, California, and Nevada, to be permitted by Dec. 1, 2010. A total of 30 applications are pending at the Interior Department.