Policy and Political Roadblocks—Not Economics—Are Holding Back America’s Clean Energy Future

In a recent essay in Democracy Journal, NRDC President & CEO Manish Bapna argues that tackling climate change requires us to move far faster to build the good things we need—from solar and wind farms to energy-efficient housing and buildings. This is not just an environmental imperative—it’s an economic one. We have the opportunity to create a booming clean energy economy where families and businesses have access to cheap and reliable electricity—and American industries are strong global competitors because of it; where technologies born from innovation have created millions of careers that support a good living; and where our economy and energy security are better shielded from the threats of hostile petrostates, resource conflicts, and uncontrollable oil price spikes.  

The good news is, this vision is not reserved for a distant future. It’s already becoming a reality for communities across the country: Landowners in Iowa are earning $72 million per year from leasing land for wind turbines, helping family farmers weather bad crop years and keep land that they have been farming for generations. In West Virginia, Form Energy is building a massive battery factory on the site of a shuttered steel mill, creating hundreds of new manufacturing jobs and establishing a new industrial backbone where the old one had collapsed. Programs like Bright Solar Futures in Pennsylvania are providing upward mobility by training residents for careers in solar installation. 

In seeing the progress of the clean energy transition that is under way, it is tempting to believe that it is unstoppable. After all, clean energy is now consistently competing and winning in the market on price and speed of deployment. But the truth is, clean energy faces a new set of policy and political barriers ahead that threaten its continued momentum.  

The key to unlocking America’s energy potential in the years ahead lies not so much in sweeping new laws, but in our collective ability to forge pragmatic fixes to the arcane systems and policies that are holding clean energy back at the national, state, and local levels.

If clean energy is so affordable, good for the economy, and benefits both red and blue states alike, what’s preventing us from building a whole lot more of it? 

Our infrastructure and processes are outdated

• The power grid is struggling to keep pace: Over 2,000 gigawatts of renewable energy and energy storage projects wait years in the interconnection queue (i.e., to be connected to the grid), while new interstate transmission lines face a thicket of approvals across multiple jurisdictions.
• Environmental permitting needs reform: Clean energy projects can spend years navigating multiple review processes across federal, state, and local levels.
• Manufacturing and workforce gaps slow progress: America is building its capacity to make and install clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and heat pumps, but supply chains are still underdeveloped and we need to train and empower workers across the country. 

The playing field is tilted against clean energy

• Fossil fuel favoritism persists: Fossil fuel companies benefit from tens of billions of dollars in long-standing subsidies; many power markets still overvalue the contribution of gas plants to reliability even when cleaner options can do the job just as well and more cheaply; and utility regulatory models still reward large new capital investments like centralized fossil fuel plants.

Communities need a better reason to get to “yes”

• Many communities remain skeptical that clean energy projects will work for them: Over 450 counties and municipalities have ordinances blocking new solar or wind projects. Some concerns are valid and should be respected, but much opposition stems from misinformation and/or the sense that they are not adequately benefiting. 

None of these challenges are insurmountable, but they are being made more difficult to solve by an administration that is actively sabotaging clean energy. Just as the country needs more electricity than ever, the Trump administration is launching an all-out attack on wind and solar—our fastest-growing source of new supply—by yanking permits for clean energy projects already underway and imposing new bureaucratic hurdles to keep new ones from breaking ground.  

The desire for simple solutions is understandable—but this challenge requires more than a single magic fix. To build the energy system this moment demands, we need three essentials: modern infrastructure and processes, fair competition, and shared benefits.  

We need modern infrastructure and processes

• Expand and modernize the grid: We need a highly connected transmission system that stitches the nation together—especially across the Continental Divide and inclusive of Texas. To make that a reality, we need to plan and build national interest interstate transmission lines and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission clear and unambiguous primary siting authority over them—establishing a single federal process for siting key interstate lines instead of requiring approval from every state they cross—just as it already has similar authority over interstate natural gas pipelines.  

  We also need to upgrade existing lines with advanced transmission technologies—such as high-performance conductors and dynamic line ratings—that can rapidly increase the grid’s capacity by delivering at least twice as much power as today’s lines. Beyond physical infrastructure, we also need faster and more coordinated interconnection studies across grid operating regions to speed project approvals.  

• Update permitting processes: Environmental permitting needs modernization. The National Environmental Policy Act and state equivalents like the California Environmental Quality Act should not be treated as untouchable, but they should not be gutted either. The burn-it-all-down mentality that is currently in vogue would eliminate important safeguards, while the status quo can create unnecessary delay that slows the very projects we need for climate progress.

  Smart reforms can accelerate clean energy deployment while maintaining strong environmental protections: designating a single lead agency to coordinate permitting processes across federal agencies; providing reasonable timelines for agency decision-making coupled with sufficient funding and staffing to do the required analysis; and accelerating permitting for clean energy projects sited on already disturbed lands while setting aside the most valuable ecological lands from development. The objective is not weaker reviews, but focused and more efficient ones that prioritize important environmental considerations and recognize that climate action itself is environmental protection.  

• Build domestic manufacturing and workforce: Building clean energy infrastructure at scale requires a robust domestic supply chain. We’re currently standing at the cusp of what could become a major clean energy manufacturing boom. But to seize it, we need policies and programs that encourage the domestic production of critical components, steady demand signals for industry, and high-quality workforce training programs—including those that create a path from fossil fuel jobs to clean energy jobs. States should consider establishing advanced industrial zones—predesignated areas with coordinated infrastructure, streamlined permitting, and integrated workforce development programs—to create a supportive ecosystem for clean energy manufacturers and to speed deployment. These manufacturing hubs—which should be sited with local input and designed in a manner that does not exacerbate environmental harms—can create quality supply chain jobs, while the broader clean energy buildout will spur additional opportunities throughout the economy. Solar assembly, EV charging installation and maintenance, and HVAC installation all offer quality jobs near home that can inject new life into communities and give workers a fair chance at getting ahead. When people see a future for themselves and their communities in a clean energy economy, they’ll be much more inclined to fight for it. 

We need fair competition

• Protect consumers by letting the best energy win: Today, many consumers are footing the bill to keep old and expensive fossil fuel plants running. That’s neither fair nor efficient. We need fair competition so the lowest-cost reliable power wins—and gas has proven to be less reliable than promised. In fact, gas plant and fuel supply failures caused most outages during winter storms like Uri in Texas and Elliott in much of the eastern United States—despite fossil fuel interests pointing fingers at renewables. Yet those same kinds of plants continue to be rewarded in capacity markets for reliability benefits that the evidence no longer supports.  

  Fair competition means ending subsidies and bailouts for uneconomic coal and gas plants; updating capacity market rules that were designed with fossil fuel plants in mind and do not account for how modern clean energy resources—including batteries and demand response—actually deliver reliability; and reforming the regulatory bias that makes it more profitable for utilities to build fossil fuel plants than make clean energy investments. It also means treating all energy resources fairly in interconnection queues, rather than letting gas plants cut ahead. This approach protects consumers from being saddled with higher costs to prop up outdated plants. When the rules are fair, competition drives prices down and innovation drives progress. 

We need shared benefits

• Engage communities and establish clear siting rules: Communities should share in the benefits of the clean energy projects they host. Project developers should engage with communities early and meaningfully to build trust, integrate local knowledge, address concerns up front, and ensure that tangible benefits flow to host communities—whether through local hiring with good wages and benefits, community funds, and/or other benefits that work for all parties. State and local policies should ensure that host communities receive a fair share of the tax revenues that these projects generate, rather than leaving those outcomes to chance through uneven tax structures and incentives. At the same time, states working to meet clean energy and/or affordability goals should establish clear siting frameworks. 

  To prevent a patchwork of local ordinances from blocking projects of state-wide importance, states should be able to approve large-scale clean energy projects on private lands that incorporate community input and meet strong environmental and community standards. Michigan’s Public Act 233 of 2023 is an example of a state exerting such authority when projects meet specified criteria. This approach is not without controversy, but it makes an attempt to balance local land-use decisions with the need to deploy projects that serve the broader public good and provide clean and affordable energy.

All three are necessary, but we also need to stop the sabotage. The current administration's weaponization of federal permitting processes to kneecap clean energy—revoking permits even for projects under construction—is costing Americans money and killing jobs. Congress should mandate that federal permit reviews do not discriminate against clean energy such as by fast-tracking gas plants while solar projects wait for years. Federal law should also prohibit permit cancellations without written justification backed by substantial evidence and ensure that reversals after January 2025 can be immediately challenged in court with expedited 180-day resolution. These protections should apply equally to all energy sources. 

To complement the three essentials, we need two additional approaches: 

• Be open to a broad array of technology solutions: Renewables, energy storage, and energy efficiency should serve as the foundation for our clean energy transition since they are cost-effective and readily available today. But achieving a fully decarbonized economy will likely require additional technologies for specific challenges. Some—like next-generation nuclear or enhanced geothermal—are currently expensive and have not yet achieved gigawatt-scale deployment, though they could provide valuable firm carbon-free power as they mature. For sectors long regarded as “hard-to-abate” (e.g., heavy industry), solutions like clean hydrogen and carbon capture will be essential to reducing carbon and air pollution. Each technology’s readiness, costs, and tradeoffs must be evaluated honestly and without ideological purity. We need to focus on pragmatic solutions that work in the real world to support a modern energy system that is clean, affordable, reliable, resilient, and protective of human health.
• Build broader coalitions: Tech companies need massive amounts of power now. Labor wants good jobs. Rural communities want economic development. Residents near proposed projects want control over what happens in their neighborhoods and an equitable share of the benefits. Consumers want affordable electricity. Developers want less red tape. Environmentalists want to protect people, the climate, and nature. These groups have different priorities, but clean energy deployment can advance multiple goals simultaneously when done thoughtfully. We should broaden the tent and focus on shared goals—perfect ideological alignment is not necessary.  

From Iowa farmland to West Virginia factories, clean energy is already delivering economic benefits. Now we need to systematically clear the policy and political obstacles in our path to unleash its full potential. We’ll either sprint toward a thriving clean energy economy or watch others surge ahead while we are left behind keeping on life support the expensive and polluting industries of yesterday. 

Building clean, fair, and fast is how we secure American prosperity, competitiveness, and climate action. We break free from stagnation when we take on the powerful interests that would rather see us stuck in the past. This will require courage and determination. We have to be willing to fight for our future and then build it together.