NRDC: Carper Plan Would Modernize Review Process for Clean Energy Projects
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) put forward a proposal today that would strengthen the federal review and approval process for clean energy projects and power grid improvements.
Christy Goldfuss, chief policy impact officer for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) made the following statement:
“We need a modern review and approval process to support the clean energy build-out at the pace and scale required to confront the climate crisis. This is the right approach. It starts by deepening engagement with frontline communities, up front when it counts. It ensures that communities that host clean energy projects share in the jobs, conservation improvements, lower energy costs and other benefits these projects provide. It would help break the bottleneck for clean energy and the modern, reliable power grid that demands. It would make changes necessary to move the country into the clean energy economy of the future and beyond the dirty fuels of the past.
“What we can’t afford to do is to abandon foundational environmental protections, dim the voices of frontline communities and lock in decades more dependence on fossil fuels, as Republican legislation would do.
“This issue has no place in talks over whether the U.S. government pays its bills. Republicans should stop playing politics with the debt ceiling and Congress should act now to avoid a devastating default.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.