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Permitting reform report recommends staffing, SEPA reforms and a state renewable‑energy authority to speed clean energy projects
Summary
Beveridge & Diamond presented a permitting‑reform study for Commerce recommending SEPA time limits, non‑project reviews, a permitting oversight dashboard, standardized mitigation, and creation of a Washington Renewable Energy Authority to coordinate transmission and ‘build‑ready’ renewable site preparation.
Eric Christensen, a shareholder at the law firm Beveridge & Diamond, summarized a permitting‑reform report prepared for the Washington Department of Commerce that recommends steps to accelerate siting and permitting of clean‑energy projects while retaining substantive environmental protections.
The report frames the problem as a need to rapidly scale clean‑economy infrastructure to meet state decarbonization goals while avoiding permitting timelines that make projects unpredictable, expensive or infeasible. The authors examined federal and out‑of‑state models — including the federal FAST‑41 approach, newly adjusted NEPA processes, and state programs in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and others — and used those findings to tailor recommendations for Washington.
Core recommendations
- Adequate agency staffing: make permitting personnel and their budgets visible and resourced in agency budgets to avoid bottlenecks. - SEPA process reforms: establish time…
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