Estimating the Climate Impacts of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Transmission Provisions

This briefing by RMI estimates the climate impacts of the transmission provisions within the draft Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA). The analysis finds that the EPRA, in conjunction with FERC Order 1920, would significantly accelerate the expansion of regional and interregional transmission, enabling the deployment of clean energy to meet growing load and displace fossil fuel generation. In a central scenario, the EPRA is estimated to reduce cumulative US grid emissions by 6.5 Gt CO2 equivalent through 2050.

• The combination of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA) and FERC Order 1920 is estimated to accelerate US transmission expansion to a rate of 2–4 TW-miles per year, compared to the recent historical rate of approximately 1 TW-mile per year.
• The EPRA contains four primary sections impacting transmission: §402, which requires neighboring planning regions (excluding ERCOT in Texas) to jointly plan interregional transmission and allocate costs; §401, which allows FERC to backstop permitting and allocate costs for lines 100 kV or higher deemed in the national interest if a state takes over one year to decide; §209, which directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to define categorical exclusions under NEPA for upgrading lines in existing rights-of-way; and §101, which reduces the window to legally challenge agency decisions for energy or mineral projects to 150 days.
• In its central scenario, RMI estimates that the EPRA transmission provisions would reduce cumulative US greenhouse gas emissions by 6.5 Gt CO2 equivalent (CO2e) through 2050. This figure is derived from a total modeled reduction of 14.3 Gt CO2e, where 3.1 Gt CO2e is attributed entirely to the EPRA's impact on interregional transmission and 3.4 Gt CO2e (approximately 30% of the 11.2 Gt CO2e regional reduction) is attributed to the EPRA's support of regional transmission.
• The analysis suggests that the transmission expansion enabled by the EPRA and Order 1920 would be sufficient to help meet expected load growth—which the authors conservatively assume will double by 2050—without overbuilding to an uneconomic extent. Modeled transmission-enabled clean energy is comparable to 2023 fossil fuel generation, but existing and transmission-enabled clean energy together would only supply about half of the needed generation by 2050.

APA

Teplin, C., Mulvaney, K., & Wang, S. (2024). Estimating the Climate Impacts of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Transmission Provisions. RMI. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/08/rmi_estimating_the_climate_impacts_epra.pdf

Chicago

Teplin, Chaz, Katie Mulvaney, and Sarah Wang. Estimating the Climate Impacts of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Transmission Provisions. RMI, 2024. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/08/rmi_estimating_the_climate_impacts_epra.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Teplin |first1=Chaz |last2=Mulvaney |first2=Katie |last3=Wang |first3=Sarah |title=Estimating the Climate Impacts of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Transmission Provisions |publisher=RMI |date=August 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/08/rmi_estimating_the_climate_impacts_epra.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{teplin2024estimating, author = {Teplin, Chaz and Mulvaney, Katie and Wang, Sarah}, title = {{Estimating the Climate Impacts of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Transmission Provisions}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/08/rmi_estimating_the_climate_impacts_epra.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }