Let us address one of the most significant barriers to combating climate change: bureaucracy. This problem stems primarily from the excruciatingly long delays in obtaining permits and building transmission lines. Consider a beautiful solar farm ready to power your neighborhood, but it sits idle because we can’t figure out how to connect it to the grid. It’s absurd and causes a significant bottleneck in the process. This is a critical issue that must be addressed. However, the landscape has shifted dramatically in the last few months. If you’re still focused solely on the permitting bottleneck, you’re overlooking a larger and more concerning issue. It’s no longer just a plumber being late; it feels like someone is attempting to set the house on fire.
Let me illustrate my point with two surprising stories from this summer.: Story Number One: The “One Big Beautiful Bill” (Yes, That’s Its Name). Our colleagues at the REPEAT Project at Princeton analyzed the new Republican budget bill, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and the findings are concerning. This bill doesn’t merely slow down clean energy initiatives; it reverses progress and accelerates the decline. Specifically, it proposes cutting $500 billion in clean energy investments and will result in 300 gigawatts less solar and wind power by 2035. To put that into perspective, this is equivalent to constructing every solar farm and wind turbine currently in existence and then discarding them all.
While we are preoccupied with finding ways to connect ongoing projects, this bill is effectively ensuring that there will be no projects left to connect. It’s a legislative robbery of our future. Story Number Two is The “Dagger.” This story is even more astonishing. Do you recall the record-breaking heat wave we faced this summer, the one that felt like the sun was bearing down on us with intention? Well, in the midst of that, the EPA made a shocking announcement. They proposed to repeal the “endangerment finding.” Although it may sound like legal jargon, this finding, established in 2009, is the only reason the EPA has the authority to combat climate change. It serves as the scientific and legal foundation that asserts, “Carbon pollution is detrimental to public health, so we have the power to regulate it.” Lee Zeldin, the new head of the EPA, chose the height of a nationwide heat wave to make this announcement. His statement? He declared they were “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” A dagger. Into the heart.
This isn’t merely about delays in allowing; it’s about a person in a suit and an office actively trying to undermine the government’s ability to safeguard our air quality. He contends that the Clean Air Act doesn’t actually apply to… air. This is a legal last resort that would essentially inform the EPA, “Sorry, your hands are tied. Good luck enduring those 110-degree days!”
So here’s the situation: We can still be rightly outraged about the issues surrounding transmission lines. We absolutely should! It’s a frustrating problem that could be resolved. However, at this moment, it’s not our primary concern. The main event consists of a coordinated two-part attack. One part involves a bill that cuts funding for clean energy initiatives. The other part is a legal maneuver designed to ensure that the government can never address this issue again. When we talk about the bottleneck, it assumes that we all have the same destination in mind. However, these actions demonstrate that we do not. Some individuals are not concerned about the traffic jam; they simply do not want anyone to make the journey at all.
References
REPEAT Project. (2025, July 3). Impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill On The US Energy Transition – Summary Report. Zenodo. Read the full report hereLinks to an external site.
Nuccitelli, D. (2025, August 1). The Republican campaign to stop the U.S. EPA from protecting the climate. Yale Climate Connections. Read the full article here
Writing About the Environment 