DOI and FERC to End Turf War to Facilitate Offshore Energy Permitting
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday confirmed they would end a longstanding jurisdictional conflict and work together to make permitting of renewable energy in offshore waters easier.
FERC and the Minerals Management Services (MMS)—a DOI bureau—both claim jurisdiction on the Outer Continental Shelf. For years, the agencies had disagreed on regulations regarding the development of offshore energy in these waters, forcing potential developers to work through each agency’s lengthy and pricey regulatory processes.
Under the agreement, the DOI will have jurisdiction over offshore wind and solar energy projects, while FERC will administer ocean energy projects, including those that generate electricity from wave and tidal currents. Agency staff will now draft a memorandum of understanding that describes the process by which permits and licenses related to renewable energy resources in offshore waters will be developed.
“Our renewable energy is too important for bureaucratic turf battles to slow down our progress. I am proud that we have reached an agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding our respective roles in approving offshore renewable energy projects, said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a statement on Tuesday. “This agreement will help sweep aside red tape so that our country can capture the great power of wave, tidal, wind and solar power off our coasts.”
A study from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has estimated that the potential for wave and current power is over 350 billion kWh per year. Tapping this potential could increase total U.S. hydropower production from its current 10% to 20%.
But no wave energy farms operate in U.S. to date, even though FERC has issued and about 170 preliminary permits are pending, representing 10,000 MW of potential generation to entities studying hydrokinetic projects, as Jon Wellinghoff, FERC’s acting chair, told a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday. Roger Bedard, an EPRI ocean energy expert, told POWER in February that the regulatory hurdles posed by the two agencies was a primary reason for this.
In a joint statement with Secretary Salazar, Wellinghoff said the permitting procedures that have been worked out between the two agencies “will help get renewable energy projects off the drawing board and onto the Outer Continental Shelf.”
The MMS will meanwhile work to complete final rules that govern regulation of offshore energy, an effort begun in 2005 under the Bush administration, Salazar said. Earlier last week, lawmakers from Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maine, among other states, asked Salazar in a letter to complete the rule with urgency, saying that it would be important to the success of offshore wind projects in the near and long term.
They also asked him to consider blocking instances of “claim jumping” on rights to offshore tracts by “those who might take advantage of the current uncertainty surrounding” the rule.
“Specifically, we are concerned that—prior to the final issuance of the overdue offshore wind energy rule by the MMS—those seeking to develop other renewable resources will effectively block access to areas that have been under study for years by offshore wind developers,” the lawmakers wrote.
“This is currently a problem because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has the ability today to issue an offshore permit for hydrokinetic projects, in the same waters studied for years by offshore wind energy developers. Meanwhile, offshore wind developers are unable to file any applications without the MMS Final Rule. In some cases, this situation is similar to speculators buying up internet domain names in the early days of the internet—with no intent to actually use them—and reselling the domain names for vastly inflated prices.”
Sources: FERC, DOI, Senate Energy Committee, POWER, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D.-Delaware)