The Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing a final rule to establish the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits (CITAP) Program, which aims to significantly improve Federal environmental reviews and permitting processes for qualifying transmission projects.
Under the CITAP Program, DOE will coordinate a Federal integrated interagency process to consolidate Federal environmental reviews and authorizations within a standard two-year schedule while ensuring meaningful engagement with Tribes, local communities, and other stakeholders. This final rule, initiated and completed in under a year, implements a May 2023 interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expedite the siting, permitting, and construction of electric transmission infrastructure in the United States.
DOE is also announcing up to $331 million to support a new transmission line from Idaho to Nevada that will be built with union labor—the latest investment from the $30 billion that the Administration is deploying from the President’s Investing in America agenda to strengthen electric grid infrastructure.
Expanding electric transmission capacity in the United States is essential to meet growing demand for electricity, ensure reliable and resilient electric service, and deliver new low-cost clean energy to customers when and where they need it. But over the past decade, transmission lines in the United States have been built at half the rate of the previous three decades, often due to permitting and financing challenges.
Federal Permitting Reform
DOE released a final rule that will significantly improve Federal environmental reviews and permitting processes for qualifying onshore electric transmission facilities, while ensuring meaningful engagement with Tribes, states, local communities, and other stakeholders. Consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the rule establishes the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits (CITAP) Program to better coordinate Federal permitting processes and establish a two-year deadline for completion of Federal authorizations and permits for electric transmission.
The CITAP program helps transmission developers navigating the Federal review process, providing:
- Improved Permitting Review with Two-Year Timelines: DOE will serve as the lead coordinator for environmental review and permitting activities between all participating Federal agencies and project developers, ultimately making the Federal permitting process for transmission projects more efficient. DOE will lead an interagency pre-application process to ensure that developer submissions for Federal authorizations are ready for review on binding two-year timelines, without compromising critical National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. This will significantly improve the efficiency of the permitting process for project developers by collecting information necessary for required Federal authorizations to site a transmission facility before starting the permitting process.
- Sustained Integrity in Environmental Review Process: DOE will work with the relevant agencies to prepare a single NEPA environmental review document to support each relevant Federal agency’s permit decision making, reducing duplication of work. Further, state siting authorities may participate in the CITAP Program alongside Federal agencies and take advantage of the efficiencies and resources DOE is offering through the program, including the single environmental review document, as a basis for their own decision-making.
- Transparent Transmission Permitting: The CITAP Program will require a comprehensive public participation plan that helps project developers identify community impacts from proposed lines at the outset of the project and encourages early engagement by potential applicants with communities and Tribes. The CITAP Program will allow potential applicants and agencies to coordinate via an online portal, which will allow project developers to directly upload relevant information and necessary documentation and will offer a one-stop-shop for their Federal permitting communications. The online portal will also allow participating Federal agencies to view and provide input during the initial document collection process and during Federal environmental reviews.
DOE also announced the selection of one additional conditional project from the first round of capacity contract applications through the Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP).