Siting Critical Energy Infrastructure: An Overview of Needs and Challenges
Letter From NCEP Co-Chairs
Dear Colleagues,
In our 2004 report, “Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America’s Energy Challenges,” the National Commission on Energy Policy concluded that:
“it will not be possible to ensure adequate
and reliable supplies of energy, achieve
desired reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,
or diversify transportation fuels without
simultaneously reducing the barriers that now
hamper the siting of new energy
infrastructure.”
This Staff Paper explores the infrastructure challenges and opportunities that will affect ongoing efforts to improve upon and modernize our nation’s energy systems. Like all contentious energy policy issues, the debate over infrastructure siting suffers from oversimplifications and unexamined assumptions: that it has become impossible to site major energy facilities in the United States, that environmentalists will find ways to oppose just about everything, or that energy companies want to build without regard to the burdens they impose on communities, or even that we can meet our nation’s energy challenges without adding diverse new infrastructure in someone’s backyard. To develop a more nuanced understanding of infrastructure siting issues and begin to elucidate realities on all sides of the debate, the Commission is sponsoring a series of workshops for later in 2006 and 2007. Initial workshops will focus on some of the resources and technologies that figure most prominently in current energy policy discussions: liquefied natural gas or LNG, electricity transmission, renewable energy (primarily wind and biofuels), nuclear power, and advanced coal technologies and carbon sequestration.
In addition, we hope to explore the
broader dynamics that will influence
energy-resource decisions in the coming years.
During our internal discussions, some members
of our Commission expressed optimism that the
advent of new, more efficient, and
environmentally superior technologies will
transform current siting paradigms and usher in
a new era of local, state, and federal
cooperation. According to this view, the
primary challenge is to develop planning and
siting processes that are inclusive, rigorous,
and comprehensive enough to give stakeholders
confidence that all options—including solutions
that rely on efficiency and demand
management—have been considered. Other
Commission members, by contrast, voiced concern
about a growing mismatch between the energy
systems the public wants—or is at least willing
to accept—and the energy systems we need to
continue delivering reliable and affordable
energy. According to this view, public
officials at various levels of government are
likely to continue to confront difficult siting
choices and will increasingly need to weigh
regional or national interests against the
often vocal opposition of local communities to
new energy infrastructure of any kind.
By promoting a broader, shared
understanding of these critical issues the
Commission aims to advance the policy process
and engage a wide variety of stakeholders in a
substantive dialogue on infrastructure siting
and related issues. We ask you to join us in
this exploration. Information and materials
relating to upcoming forums can be found at http://www.energycommission.org/.
We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
John W. Rowe
John P. Holdren
William K. Reilly
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