MODERNIZING OUR 

ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION 

INFRASTRUCTURE AND 

DRIVING THE DEVELOPMENT 

OF CLEAN ENERGY

JULY 2015
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Since President Obama took office, the Administration has made tremendous progress improving the 

nation’s electric transmission infrastructure. Building greater transmission infrastructure will facilitate, 

among other things, increased reliability and the greater integration of renewable sources of electricity 

into the grid, catalyzing the transition to a clean energy economy and reducing the carbon pollution that is 

leading to climate change. Since 2008 alone: 

 The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved 46 major electric 

transmission line projects, of which 29 are currently in service. Cumulatively, the 46 projects 

total over 2,300 miles, 1,300 miles of which cross BLM-managed lands. From 2012 to 2013 

alone, the BLM approved permits which will enable construction of nearly 1,000 miles of 

transmission lines across Federal lands in several states;

 The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service financed nearly 7,400 total miles of 

transmission and distribution lines;

 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued 3 Presidential permits for the construction, 

operation, connection and maintenance of electric transmission lines crossing the U.S. 

international border, spanning approximately 551 miles. Through the Western Power Marketing 

Administration’s (WAPA) Transmission Investment Program(TIP), the DOE invested $251 

million in two transmission projects, totaling 323 miles;

 After over a decade of lower build-out, the amount of new circuit miles to the Nation’s 

transmission system increased in recent years; and 

 Investor-owned utilities spent a record high of $16.9 billion on transmission in 2013, up from 

$5.8 billion in 2001.

Historic and Projected Expansion of Net Transmission Circuit Miles

Source: QER, 2015i
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KEY ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS TO MODERNIZE TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE

While the development of transmission infrastructure is largely dependent on the private sector and state 

and local government decisions, the Federal Government has taken a number of actions to modernize 

transmission infrastructure to create a cleaner energy future. In particular, the Administration has 

undertaken an ambitious effort to modernize the Federal Government’s role in the permitting and review 

processes. 

In October of 2009, nine Federal agencies; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of 

Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, the 

Council on Environmental Quality, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Advisory Council on 

Historic Preservation, and Department of the Interior signed a memorandum of understanding with the 

goal of reducing approval time off the normal Federal permit process and help break down the barriers to 

siting new transmission lines. After which, on Aug. 31, 2011, a Presidential Memorandum Speeding 

Infrastructure Development through More Efficient and Effective Permitting and Environmental Review 

called for expedited review of “priority projects” and “instruct[ed] agencies to (1) identify and work to 

expedite permitting and environmental reviews for high-priority infrastructure projects with significant 

potential for job creation; and (2) implement new measures designed to improve accountability, 

transparency, and efficiency through the use of modern information technology. On March 22, 2012, the 

President signed Executive Order No. 13604, Improving Performance of Federal Permitting and Review 

of Infrastructure Projects, that directed Federal agencies to improve the efficiency and transparency of 

Federal permitting and review processes for infrastructure projects, as well as to cut through red tape and 

get more timely decisions, while producing measurably better outcomes for communities and the 

environment. 

Since 2012, the President has issued several subsequent executive directives to improve the Federal 

permitting and review process. On May 17, 2013, the President released a memorandum directing an 

interagency steering committee to develop a plan to turn permitting and review best practices identified 

by the Federal agencies—focused on early collaboration, increased transparency and accountability, and

greater consideration of citizens’ interests—into standard practice for all major infrastructure projects. On 

June 7, 2013, the President issued a separate but related memorandum, directing Federal agencies to 

“develop an integrated, interagency pre-application process for significant onshore electric transmission 

projects requiring Federal approval.” The Administration has already taken the following actions to 

implement the Presidents’s direction, including:

 Establishing an Implementation Plan to Modernize Permitting. On May 14, 2014, the 

Interagency Infrastructure Steering Committee released “Implementation Plan for the Presidential 

Memorandum on Modernizing Infrastructure Permitting” This Implementation Plan identified 

four strategies, 15 reforms, and nearly 100 near-term and long-term milestones to modernize the 

Federal government’s role in permitting and review processes. The reforms contained in this 

Implementation Plan help the Federal agencies involved in the review or authorization of 

infrastructure projects do so more efficiently. This plan provides Federal agencies with ways to 

better synchronize and align their permitting and review responsibilities while ensuring that 

potential impacts on safety, security, and environmental and community resources such as air, 

water, land, and historical and cultural resources are considered and minimized.

 Creating a Permitting Dashboard. The Administration launched a Federal Infrastructure 

Project Permitting Dashboard to track the permitting and environmental review schedules 

(milestones and timelines) for designated infrastructure project schedules. The dashboard also 

hosts a “Permit Inventory”—a searchable database of required permits and approvals. To date, 

agencies have expedited the review and permitting of more than 50 selected major infrastructure 
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projects, including bridges, transit projects, railways, waterways, roads, and renewable energy 

generation projects. Additional information is available at www.permits.performance.gov. 

 Developing an Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission. The Administration 

created a Rapid Response Team for Transmission (RRTT) that aims to improve the overall 

quality and timeliness of electric transmission infrastructure permitting, review, and consultation 

by the Federal government on both Federal and non-Federal lands. The interagency team 

improved quality and timeliness through: (1) 

coordinating statutory permitting, review, and 

consultation schedules and processes among involved 

Federal and state agencies, as appropriate, through 

Integrated Federal Planning; (2) applying a uniform 

and consistent approach to consultations with Tribal 

governments; and, (3) resolving interagency conflicts 

and ensuring that all involved agencies are fully 

engaged and meeting timelines. In October, 2011, the 

RRTT announced seven pilot projects, selected in 

part due to their unique permitting challenges, nearterm critical milestones and opportunities to support 

renewable energy development and grid 

reliability. Records of Decision (RODs) have been 

issued for three of these projects, out of which 

Susquehanna-Roseland is already in service and 

Hampton-Lacrosse is under construction. For the 

remaining three active projects, BLM anticipates that the RODs for Transwest Express will be 

complete in the fall/winter of 2015 and Boardman-Hemingway and Gateway West segments 8 

and 9 will be complete in winter of 2016.

 Designating corridors for pipelines, electric transmission lines, and related infrastructure. 

The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture are conducting a periodic 

review of the Western energy rights-of-way corridors designated in 2009. As directed in the June 

2013 Presidential Memorandum, DOE issued two reports—one for assessing potential corridors 

in the West, as analyzed by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, and one for the rest of 

the United States that looks at current and potential crossings for transmission lines and oil and 

gas pipelines on federally protected national trails. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and 

Forest Service (FS) very recently began collecting information for an August kick-off of the first 

regional review of energy corridors established in response to Section 368(a) of the Energy Policy 

Act of 2005. This first regional review is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2016, subject 

to the availability of appropriated funds. The corridors provide linear pathways for siting 

infrastructure projects like high voltage transmission lines and energy pipelines. The BLM and 

the FS developed a framework to prioritize their efforts for conducting the reviews by 

establishing six regions that cover the Western U.S. These priority areas are those with the 

greatest opportunity for new renewable energy development, highest need for new energy 

transmission projects to bring renewable energy to load centers, and the best chance to resolve 

important resource conflict and congestion issues. In June, the agencies began engagement with 

the appropriate Resource Advisory Councils to begin planning to initiate the first of these 

regional reviews covering the desert southwest (encompassing southern Nevada, western 

Arizona, and southern California). This region is where many of the BLM’s transmission and 

renewable energy projects exist or are planned and numerous energy corridors are designated in 

agency land use plans. The desert southwest was selected because the area has substantial 

CAPX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La 

Crosse

In January 2013, the U.S. Army Corp of 

Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service issued a Record of Decision for 

the CAPX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La 

Crosse transmission line, a RRTT pilot 

project. The line, which is xx, will 

improve reliability and meet growing 

energy demand in the Twin Cities, 

Rochester, and La Crosse Wisconsin 

areas. As designed, the line also will 

improve access to generation in 

southeastern Minnesota, including access 

to wind energy.

CAPX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La 

Crosse

In January 2013, the U.S. Army Corp of 

Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service issued a Record of Decision for 

the CAPX 2020 Hampton-Rochester-La 

Crosse transmission line, a RRTT pilot 

project. The line, which is 156 miles, will 

improve reliability and meet growing 

energy demand in the Twin Cities, 

Rochester, and La Crosse Wisconsin 

areas. As designed, the line also will 

improve access to generation in 

southeastern Minnesota, including access 

to wind energy.
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opportunities for development of new utility-scale renewable energy projects as well as a high 

demand for new energy sources in major load centers.

 Undertaking landscape- and watershed-level mitigation and conservation planning. Federal 

land management agencies have begun to implement mitigation and conservation planning at the 

landscape, ecosystem, or watershed level. For example, in March 2014, the Department of the 

Interior released the Solar “Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone,”

and in April 2014, Secretary Jewell issued the “Strategy for Improving the Mitigation Practices of 

the Department of the Interior.”

 Promoting grid modernization. DOE has made a 

comprehensive grid modernization proposal in the 

President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget request. 

The crosscutting proposal supports strategic DOE 

investments in foundational technology 

development, enhanced security capabilities, and 

greater institutional support and stakeholder 

engagement, all of which are designed to provide the 

tools necessary for the evolution to the grid of the 

future.

 Developing Tools and Expanding Data 

Availability. The Administration has financed the 

development of a number of mapping tools that 

enable transmission planners and regulatory officials 

to study and compare alternative transmission line 

routes more efficiently and systematically. In 

addition, the Administration has identified a number 

of actions and policies to facilitate adequate 

collection, integration, and sharing of the best 

available data to assist project sponsors in siting projects in order to minimize resource impacts 

and to support Federal decision making, including:

o The Eastern Interconnection States Planning Council Energy Zones Mapping Tool, 

funded by DOE, is a free online mapping tool that identifies potential clean energy 

resource areas within the Eastern Transmission Interconnection. This website provides 

information about the study, background on the energy resources, and details on the data 

layers used in the tool. The tool includes 273 GIS data layers and links to policies and 

regulations, printable maps, and related documents. The tool can be accessed at 

eispctools.anl.gov;

o The Western Governors Association developed the Regulatory and Permitting 

Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit using American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act Funding. The toolkit offers one location for agencies, developers, and industry 

stakeholders in the Western Interconnection to work together on renewable energy 

regulatory processes by using a wiki environment to collaborate on regulatory processes, 

permit guidance, regulations, contacts, and other relevant information.

o The Energy Zones Mapping Tool (EZMT) is a free online mapping tool to identify 

potential clean energy resource areas within the Eastern Transmission Interconnection. 

The Web-based EZ Mapping tool looks at nine clean energy resource for development in 

Champlain Hudson Power Express

In October 2014, the Department of 

Energy issued a Presidential Permit for the 

Champlain Hudson Power Express, a 

transmission line that will deliver 

renewable hydropower from Quebec to 

meet New York City's growing energy 

demand. The project developers estimate 

that the 1,000-megawatt transmission line 

will save consumers $650 million each 

year and cut carbon pollution 2.2 million 

metric tons.

And we're taking action to drive reliable, 

affordable, and sustainable hydropower at 

home. Since the President took office, 

DOE has provided awards to support more 

than 30 hydropower projects.
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the East. Developed by Argonne National Lab for Eastern Interconnection Planning 

Collaborative (EIPC) using ARRA funding. It is being used in the Eastern 

Interconnection but leveraged more broadly. Evaluation of potential transmission facility 

locations in sensitive or resource-constrained areas. Produces user-customized maps of 

areas that fit the screening factors and criteria for various electrical power generation 

technologies. Argonne National Lab continues its stakeholder outreach campaign and 

technical assistance for the EZ Mapping Tool, available at http://eispctools.anl.gov/.

The Department of Energy has developed NEPAnode, an interactive mapping tool, 

containing 278 data sets/layers, as part of pilot effort to evaluate providing IT web 

services as a shared service, hosted on the cloud, and using only Free and Open Source 

Software (FOSS). Available at nepanode.anl.gov, the site is a collaborative data and 

document sharing platform where data is made publically available as a downloadable 

file or as a web service;

o The Fish and Wildlife Service Information, Planning, and Conservation Tool, an 

interactive, Web-based tool illustrating the natural resources for which the Fish and 

Wildlife Service has trust or regulatory responsibility. The tool allows interested parties 

to access a public website to determine if there are any Fish and Wildlife Service trust 

resources, including endangered and threatened species, in a potential project area before 

beginning the project design. In addition, project sponsors can get information about a 

species and its needs, as well as measures they can take to help protect and conserve the 

species when designing and constructing their project. The tool can be accessed at 

ecos.fws.gov/ipac;

o The EPA’s NEPAssist, a Web-based mapping tool to facilitate efficient and effective 

environmental reviews and project planning. The tool is part of an initiative developed by 

the Environmental Protection Agency and selected as a pilot by the Council of 

Environmental Quality to showcase its potential to modernize and reinvigorate Federal

agency implementation of NEPA through innovation, public participation, and 

transparency. The tool can be accessed at www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/nepassistmapping.html;

o The Army Corps’ Federal Support Toolbox, launched in May 2013, is a 

comprehensive “one-stop-shop” online water resources data portal with direct links to 

valuable data, state-of-the-art models, and tools for utilization in information sharing and 

collaboration for the water resources community in the United States and internationally. 

It serves as a single point of entry to comprehensive information about water resources 

programs, initiatives, legislation, policies, regulations, collaborations, partnerships, 

databases, tools, models, data, research and development, education, and leadership that 

is housed on a participating agency’s or organization’s own server.

o The Western Governors’ Associations’ Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool, an online 

system of maps that displays crucial wildlife habitat based on commonly agreed upon 

definitions developed by the Western Governors’ Wildlife Council. The tool provides 

information across 16 Western states and links to five state-level Crucial Habitat 

Assessment Tools; it will link to new state Crucial Habitat Assessment Tools as they 

become available. The tool can be accessed at www.westgovchat.org.
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CONTINUING TO DRIVE IN INVESTMENT IN TRANSMISSION FOR CLEAN ENERGY

The Quadrennial Energy Review found that investments in transmission and distribution upgrades and 

expansions will grow. It is anticipated that in the next two decades, large transmission and distribution 

investments will be made to replace aging infrastructure; maintain reliability; enable market efficiencies; 

and aid in meeting policy objectives, such as GHG reduction and state renewable energy goals. Recent 

increases in investment in transmission infrastructure by investor-owned utilities are shown in the figure 

below. 

Investment in Transmission Infrastructure by Investor-Owned Utilities, 1997 – 2012

Source: QER 2015ii

A key take away from the QER was that both long-distance transmission and distributed energy resources 

can enable lower-carbon electricity. The transmission network can enable connection to high-quality 

renewables and other lower-carbon resources far from load centers; distributed energy resources can 

provide local low-carbon power and efficiency. The potential range of new transmission construction is 

within historic investment magnitudes. Under nearly all scenarios analyzed for the QER, circuit-miles of 

transmission expected to be added through 2030 are roughly equal to those needed under the base case, 

and while those base case transmission needs are significant, they do not appear to exceed historical 

yearly build rates. To continue this progress, the QER recommended taking the following actions:

 Conduct a national review of transmission plans and assess barriers to their implementation. DOE 

should carry out a detailed and comprehensive national review of transmission plans, including 

assessments on the types of transmission projects proposed and implemented, current and future 

costs, consideration of interregional coordination, and other factors. A critical part of this review 

should be to assess incentives and impediments to the development of new transmission. 

 Provide state financial assistance to promote and integrate TS&D infrastructure investment plans 

for electricity reliability, affordability, efficiency, lower carbon generation, and environmental 

protection. In making awards under this program, DOE should require cooperation within the 
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planning process of energy offices, public utility commissions, and environmental regulators 

within each state; with their counterparts in other states; and with infrastructure owners and 

operators and other entities responsible for maintaining the reliability of the bulk power system.

 Allocate resources to key Federal agencies involved in the siting, permitting, and review of 

infrastructure projects. Federal agencies responsible for infrastructure siting, review, and 

permitting have experienced dramatic appropriations cuts and reductions in staff. Many of the 

components of the overall effort to improve the Federal siting and permitting processes have been 

stymied in recent years by appropriations shortfalls. Congress should fully fund these priorities. 

 Prioritize meaningful public engagement through consultation with Indian Tribes, coordination 

with state and local governments, and facilitation of non-Federal partnerships. Early and 

meaningful public engagement with affected residential communities, nonprofit organizations, 

and other non-Federal stakeholders through the NEPA process and other forums can reduce siting 

conflicts. Federal agency coordination with state and local governments and government-togovernment consultation with affected Indian Tribes should remain a Federal Government 

priority. When possible, Federal agencies should co-locate energy infrastructure environmental 

review and permitting staff from multiple Federal agencies’ regional and field offices. 

 Expand landscape- and watershed-level mitigation and conservation planning. When adverse 

impacts to the Nation’s landscape cannot be avoided or minimized any further, Federal agencies 

should seek innovative approaches to compensate for adverse project impacts commensurate with 

the scope and scale of the project and effects to resources. Through mitigation planning at a 

landscape, ecosystem, or watershed scale, agencies can locate mitigation activities in the most 

ecologically important areas. 

 Adopt Administration proposals to authorize recovery of costs for review of project applications. 

Consistent with the proposal in the President’s FY 2016 Budget Request, additional flexibility for 

certain agencies to accept funds from applicants would be appropriate and could expedite the 

Federal permitting and review process.

 Enact statutory authorities to improve coordination across agencies. Congress should authorize 

and fund the Interagency Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center in DOT, as set forth in 

Section 1009 of the Administration’s draft legislation for the GROW AMERICA Act. 

Citations

i Chang, J., J. Pfeifenberger and M. Hagerty."Trends and Benefits of Transmission Investments: Identifying and

Analyzing Value." The Brattle Group. Presented to the CEA Transmission Council, Ottawa, Canada, September 26, 

2013. 

http://www.brattle.com/system/publications/pdfs/000/004/944/original/Trends_and_Benefits_of_Transmission_Inve

stments_Chang_Pfeifenberger_Hagerty_CEA_Sep_26_2013.pdf Accessed March 4, 2015. Reproduced with 

permission.

ii Energy Information Administration. “Investment in electricity transmission infrastructure shows steady increase.” 

TodayinEnergy.August 26,2014.>http://www<.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=17711.Accessed March 4,2015.