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In no small part because of the extreme difficulty in building large projects in the US. NEPA is, in the US context, one of the single largest impediments to co

In no small part because of the extreme difficulty in building large projects in the US. NEPA is, in the US context, one of the single largest impediments to combating climate change at this point. https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-nepa-works https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-nepa-works https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-did-we-wait-so-long-for-wind-c51 https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-did-we-wait-so-lo...

nine_k 3y ago
I found this chart especially striking: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e7099a8-9073-4a83-a4f1-56a1e2a9bce5_779x425.png https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... The time is in tens of months, routinely.
kibwen 3y ago
Before we go blaming environment regulations, all the literature on this topic that I have read points at the Jones Act as the reason that offshore wind is so difficult: "The Jones Act, passed by Congress in 1920, says that only U.S.-flagged ships can move cargo from one point in the United States to another. The ships must have been built in the U.S. and be crewed by Americans. The offshore wind industry uses big, specialized ships to assemble the turbines miles out at sea, but there is not a single U.S.-flagged ship right now that can do that work." https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/04/03/the-jones-act--how-a-100-year-old-law-complicates-offshore-wind-projects https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/04/03/t...
- MostlyStable 3y ago
  Jones act is also terrible and it wouldn't shock me at all if it also makes it much more expensive. But the Jones act has nothing to do with why it takes years and years to even get started.
- Incipient 3y ago
  But surely that can't apply to construction? All of the oil and gas; drill rigs, pipe lay barges, and heavy lift vessels, can't all be compliant?
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Are there moderate proposals for reforming NEPA?
- purple_ferret 3y ago
  There was some language changes in the debt ceiling bill. Manchin had a bill with some support.[0] The problem is Conservatives want to make sure fossil fuel projects are prioritized in any sort of reform while Liberals want to make sure they're excluded. [0]https://www.energy.senate.gov/2023/5/manchin-moves-ball-forward-on-permitting-reform https://www.energy.senate.gov/2023/5/manchin-moves-ball-forw...
- MostlyStable 3y ago
  Not that I have heard of. And it seems like it's probably a very hard problem to solve (although I admittedly haven't spent too much time thinking about it). There are absolutely certain kinds of development/buildings/whatever that we probably want to restrict building, or at the very least subject to decently in depth review. It's hard to envision a process that blocks those kinds of things while allowing the good things. In part because the line between those things is probably different for just about every single person in the country. I'm sure a lot of people would disgree with my personal view on all the things we should be building. I've mostly been convinced that, at least for now, the harms that NEPA is preventing are smaller than the goods it's preventing. That probably wasn't true in the past and might not be true in the future though. My hope is that by rabble rousing enough, someone smarter than I can find a good solution that doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

nine_k 3y ago

I found this chart especially striking: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e7099a8-9073-4a83-a4f1-56a1e2a9bce5_779x425.png https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... The time is in tens of months, routinely.

kibwen 3y ago

Before we go blaming environment regulations, all the literature on this topic that I have read points at the Jones Act as the reason that offshore wind is so difficult: "The Jones Act, passed by Congress in 1920, says that only U.S.-flagged ships can move cargo from one point in the United States to another. The ships must have been built in the U.S. and be crewed by Americans. The offshore wind industry uses big, specialized ships to assemble the turbines miles out at sea, but there is not a single U.S.-flagged ship right now that can do that work." https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/04/03/the-jones-act--how-a-100-year-old-law-complicates-offshore-wind-projects https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/04/03/t...

MostlyStable 3y ago
Jones act is also terrible and it wouldn't shock me at all if it also makes it much more expensive. But the Jones act has nothing to do with why it takes years and years to even get started.
Incipient 3y ago
But surely that can't apply to construction? All of the oil and gas; drill rigs, pipe lay barges, and heavy lift vessels, can't all be compliant?

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

Are there moderate proposals for reforming NEPA?

purple_ferret 3y ago
There was some language changes in the debt ceiling bill. Manchin had a bill with some support.[0] The problem is Conservatives want to make sure fossil fuel projects are prioritized in any sort of reform while Liberals want to make sure they're excluded. [0]https://www.energy.senate.gov/2023/5/manchin-moves-ball-forward-on-permitting-reform https://www.energy.senate.gov/2023/5/manchin-moves-ball-forw...
MostlyStable 3y ago
Not that I have heard of. And it seems like it's probably a very hard problem to solve (although I admittedly haven't spent too much time thinking about it). There are absolutely certain kinds of development/buildings/whatever that we probably want to restrict building, or at the very least subject to decently in depth review. It's hard to envision a process that blocks those kinds of things while allowing the good things. In part because the line between those things is probably different for just about every single person in the country. I'm sure a lot of people would disgree with my personal view on all the things we should be building. I've mostly been convinced that, at least for now, the harms that NEPA is preventing are smaller than the goods it's preventing. That probably wasn't true in the past and might not be true in the future though. My hope is that by rabble rousing enough, someone smarter than I can find a good solution that doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.