Building the Green Transition: A Justice-Centered Vision for Permitting Reform

Roosevelt Institute
District of Columbia
21/03/2023 at 10:00AM

Efficiently greenlighting the development of renewable energy projects is crucial to the clean energy transition. But the conversation about how to reform permitting processes has been dominated by proposals that aim to speed the permitting process by limiting democratic participation and weakening environmental review. These proposals risk leaving frontline communities more vulnerable to exploitation—particularly from polluting industries—and making it faster and easier to develop fossil fuel projects.

On March 21, the Roosevelt Institute hosted a one-day, in-person conversation in Washington, DC, to discuss the need for permitting reform that centers climate justice and highlights progressive ideas for how to hasten the green transition.

10:00 am SESSION 1: WELCOME

  • Marissa Guananja, Chief Programs Officer, Roosevelt Institute
  • Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Director of Climate Policy, Roosevelt Institute

10:15 am SESSION 2: PANEL – WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH PERMITTING?

Moderator: Hannah Vogel, Policy Advisor, Office of Senator Edward Markey

Panelists:

  • Jungwoo Chun, Postdoctoral Impact Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Climate and Sustainability Consortium
  • Adam Cohen, Co-founder and CEO, Ranger Power
  • Jamie Pleune, Associate Professor of Law (Research) and Wallace Stegner Center Fellow at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
  • Anthony Rogers-Wright, Director of Environmental Justice, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest

11:15 am SESSION 3: PANEL – WHAT ABOUT COMMUNITIES? PERMITTING AS A TOOL FOR JUSTICE.

Moderator: Adrien Salazar, Policy Director, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Panelists:

  • Aminah Ghaffar, Community Organizer, 7 Directions of Service
  • Fermina Stevens, Director, Western Shoshone Defense Project
  • Naomi Yoder, Staff Scientist, Healthy Gulf

12:00 pm LUNCH

12:45 pm SESSION 4: KEYNOTE

  • Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts

1:15 pm SESSION 5: PANEL – NEPA REFORM: HOW CAN PERMITTING SUPPORT EQUITY AND IMPROVE DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION?

Moderator: Dana Johnson, Senior Director of Strategy and Federal Policy, WE ACT

Panelists:

  • Raul Garcia, Legislative Director for Healthy Communities, Policy and Legislation, Earthjustice
  • Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Deputy Director of Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation
  • Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Executive Director, Western Environmental Law Center
  • Nicky Sheats, Director of the Center for the Urban Environment at the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research, Kean University

2:00 pm SESSION 6: PANEL – HOW CAN WE REFORM PERMITTING PROCESSES RELATED TO TRANSMISSION?

Moderator: Jennie Chen, Senior Manager, Clean Energy, World Resources Institute

Panelists:

  • Nathanael Green, Senior Renewable Energy Advocate, Climate & Clean Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Suedeen Kelly, Partner & Co-chair, Energy Practice, Jenner & Block LLP
  • Tyler Norris, Vice President of Development, Cypress Creek Renewables
  • Christine Powell, Deputy Managing Attorney, Earthjustice

2:45 pm SESSION 7: CLOSING KEYNOTE

  • Abbie Dillen, President, Earthjustice