Kansas winds power a nation

Kansas is the third-most wind-powered state in the country, with thousands of turbines generating over half its energy from fierce plains winds.

One line, sixteen years stuck

The Grain Belt Express, an eight hundred-mile high-voltage line carrying Kansas wind power across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, has been trying to get built for the past sixteen years.

Regulatory hurdles block progress

The Grain Belt Express received its first approval in two thousand thirteen but will likely not open until two thousand twenty-nine at the earliest, beset by regulatory hurdles and legal challenges.

Senate announces bipartisan deal

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of Senators announced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, to significantly curtail litigation against energy projects and empower the federal government to push critical multistate projects forward.

The bill remakes energy building

If passed, BAAJA could remake how the nation's energy infrastructure gets built, including interstate transmission lines, for decades to come.

Clean energy requires fossil fuel trade-off

The bill eases the way for clean energy but also creates conditions for more oil and gas infrastructure, weakening landmark regulatory norms that gave Americans say over developments affecting drinking water and tribal sacred sites.

America builds too slowly

America builds infrastructure desperately needed for clean energy transition with little urgency despite climate change disaster, while solar and wind farms languish in queues to connect to the nation's decrepit power grid.

Environmentalists raise serious concerns

Some Democrats in Congress and environmentalists have raised serious concerns about the bill, with initial objections likely to create an uphill battle when it comes to a vote after the November midterms.

Trump's clean energy attacks stalled talks

For months, the permitting deal was stalled by the Trump administration's failure to assure Democrats the president would stop attacking windmills and other clean energy projects.

Bill prevents presidential meddling

If passed, BAAJA will codify protections that legally prevent presidents from meddling with already-permitted energy projects or singling out specific forms of energy, applying equally to Democratic and Republican administrations.

Biden's freeze on gas exports blocked

The Biden administration's freeze on approvals for new natural gas export plants would not be allowed under the bill, a provision that worries many environmentalists most.

Environmental groups strategize opposition

During a coalition call, dozens of advocates from the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Law and Policy Center expressed misgivings about the bill and strategized how to lobby Democrats against it.

Court challenges still possible but limited

The bill leaves room for court challenges if filed within one hundred fifty days of an approval, but places much larger burden on federal agencies, currently controlled by Trump, to determine damage thresholds.

“The question's not whether that would be a good idea, it's one of the basic building blocks for converting more of our energy system to renewables. It's how many pounds of flesh the fossil fuel industry would demand in return, and how close to vital organs that flesh would be located.”

Democrats need Republicans to deliver benefits

No matter how many Congressional seats Democrats win in November, they will need Republicans on board if Americans are to see the benefits of solar, the cheapest energy source of all time, reflected on their power bill.