Obstacles to Energy Infrastructure: Clean Energy and the National Environmental Policy Act

This webinar explores the impact of the National Environmental Policy Act on clean energy deployment in the United States.

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Date

Nov. 10, 2025

Time

1:00–2:15 p.m. ET

Participants

Keith Benes, Ted Boling, Arthur G. Fraas, and Kevin Rennert

Event Series

Webinar

Event Overview

Federal environmental permitting required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has often been cited as an obstacle to building new energy infrastructure. As a result, many federal proposals have focused on amending NEPA as a way of cutting red tape and helping infrastructure projects advance more quickly. The Trump administration has taken several steps to reduce the role of federal environmental review under NEPA, and streamlining the NEPA process has featured in congressional proposals on broader permitting reform.

Decentralized processes and data collection have made it challenging to assess the effects of NEPA on energy project timelines, complicating efforts to develop targeted reforms. Two new studies from Resources for the Future (RFF) address this data need, by assessing the timelines for clean energy projects under NEPA and the role of litigation in those timelines. Join RFF on Monday, November 10 for a webinar convening panel of experts as we discuss what is known about energy projects completing the NEPA process, the evolving policy landscape, and the role of potential NEPA reforms as a part of a broader congressional compromise on permitting.

Speakers

Keith Benes, University of Nebraska School of Law
Ted Boling, Perkins Coie
Art Fraas, RFF
Kevin Rennert, RFF

Topics

Participants

Keith Benes

Research Professor, University of Nebraska School of Law

Ted Boling

Partner, Perkins Coie

Arthur G. Fraas

Visiting Fellow

Arthur Fraas is a visiting fellow at Resources for the Future. At RFF, Fraas works on a variety of issues related to energy and the environment, including projects looking at issues and tradeoffs with energy efficiency regulations, and more.

Kevin Rennert

Fellow; Director, Federal Climate Policy Initiative

Kevin Rennert is a fellow at RFF. He also serves as director of the Comprehensive Climate Strategies Program and the Federal Climate Policy Initiative.

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