Infrastructure policy research @StanfordCDDRL. Project Finance. Current topics: BRI, Vert. Industrial Policy, US Public-Private Partnerships, Infra. Permitting
Joined December 2009
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Our study on EIS permit durations under NEPA is now available open access in the Journal of Regulatory Economics.
We studied nearly 1300 EIS's and the drivers of permit durations (in years) and page counts. Some results below...
link.springer.com/article/10…
Michael Bennon retweeted
🚨 WE HAVE A PERMITTING DEAL🚨
And it is easily the best permitting bill we've ever gotten!
- The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act is HUGE (400+ pages) and both sides got a LOT.
- The bill is much bigger and better than either Manchin post-IRA in 2022 or Manchin-Barrasso in 2024.
Once I finish reading the text I'll publish an explainer. For now, here are a few high level takeaways.
1. Transmission: The bill is absolutely HUGE for transmission, going further than Manchin-Barrasso. Includes: interregional transmission, limited federal backstop authority, interconnection queue reforms, directives for advanced grid-enhancing tech, and oversight of utilities. It's absolutely AMAZING all of this got in.
2. NEPA: The bill has BIG changes to NEPA, including fixes for judicial review that underpins the law's costs. Still reading but this is even better than I expected!
3. Certainty: The bill includes strong provisions to push back on misuse of permitting, like we're seeing with the admin's abuses against offshore wind.
4. Historic Preservation: The bill includes changes to the NHPA 106 process, including changes to judicial review that will help right-size the process.
5. Clean Water: The bill fixes problems with section 401 by adding new requirements for states and makes section 404 nationwide permits easier to comply with.
6. Geothermal: The bill includes big wins for geothermal, including parity with oil and gas catexs.
7. Mining: The bill fixes the "Rosemont decision"
8. Endangered Species: The bill creates a new path for states to take on endangered species consultation.
9. Hydro: Fixes for certain hydroelectric projects
10. Ratepayer protection: The bill adds protections for ratepayers from added data centers. Looks to be stronger than the House passed bill by quite a bit.
Michael Bennon retweeted
New Green Tape: After more than a year of deliberations, BAAJA is out.
The bill is the most sweeping grid & permitting package ever released. If passed, it would represent a sea change in our ability to build projects quickly, affordably, and responsibly.
My read (link ⬇️):
Michael Bennon retweeted
1/The permitting bill is out and it’s awesome. HUGE congrats to @SenWhitehouse and @MartinHeinrich. This took years (now we can all see why!) against the backdrop of an administration actively hostile to a lot of clean energy the whole time. 🧵
Michael Bennon retweeted
Blog: The World Bank and Industrial Strategy.
The Bank's "Industrial Policy for Development" is in part an update and re-evaluation of the 1993 "East Asian Miracle" report. Bank’s chief economist says Miracle report “has the practical value of a floppy disk today”... [thread]
Michael Bennon retweeted
SPEED story: House passes major GOP-led permitting overhaul after late drama. And on to the Senate we go! subscriber.politicopro.com/a…
Michael Bennon retweeted
The biggest threat to American global competitiveness, and it does not matter if your priorities are climate change, affordability, the AI race, national security or all of the above, is our country’s complete inability to build and upgrade transmission at any meaningful scale.
Michael Bennon retweeted
Remember when Jane Jacobs wrote that downzoning is good insofar as it stops "cataclysmic money" from changing the mixed-income character of the West Village
Jane Jacobs’ old apartment on Hudson Street sold for $5.5 million
nypost.com/2025/11/04/real-e…
Michael Bennon retweeted
New CEQA opinion nixing (again!) the voters' repeal of a 30' height limit in San Diego is a near-perfect vehicle for CA Supreme Court to jettison the worst of "Old CEQA."
Very glad that @MayorToddGloria is determined to appeal it.
🧵
Michael Bennon retweeted
Energy costs have tracked inflation historically. That stability is now at risk after scores of projects across every source were cancelled over past decade due to permitting. Without reform, we will not have affordable & reliable energy. A partial list of projects affected:
🧵
Michael Bennon retweeted
This pretty much sums up what went wrong with Biden era industrial policy:
It's now been almost four years since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the largest infusion of federal money into infrastructure ever. Yet one could be excused for barely noticing any change. My latest long-form for @CityJournal magazine looks at what went wrong.
Michael Bennon retweeted
Cool example of government data transparency:
DOE is publishing a public dataset of 120,000 NEPA documents from 60,000 projects prepared by 60 different agencies.
This will improve the quality of AI tools used to prepare environmental reviews.
Michael Bennon retweeted
Not loving @nytimes's "housing trumps the environment" gloss on today's generational reforms of CEQA.
These reforms most certainly are not an invitation to pave over paradise.
1/9
Michael Bennon retweeted
Check out this important father & son op-ed endorsing @BuffyWicks's AB 609 -- a bill that would conclusively remove infill housing development from CEQA.
The father is Nick Yost, who led Cal DOJ in 1970s, wrote the brief that became Friends of Mammoth, and later...
1/3
Michael Bennon retweeted
SCOTUS Seven County decision is out!
TLDR: It’s a big deal, it limits NEPA, it’s better than expected, BUT… there’s still uncertainty.
The ruling does two things:
- Calls for giving agencies more discretion
- Sets clear limits on what EIS reviews have to consider
🧵(1/14)
Michael Bennon retweeted
On the Supreme Court's dramatic transformation of NEPA law in today's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County Co:
Those of us concerned about the imperative to enable government to function more effectively have frequently mentioned the way the expansion of NEPA's role since the 1970s -- through judicial doctrine, mostly in the DC Circuit -- has contributed to raising the cost, delay, and failure of a range of public projects.
Really interesting Q&A here. I think the key is finding middle ground between the first and second part of this answer.
This morning's Statecraft is in my top 5 all-time interviews we've conducted.
As an environmental activist, Stephanie Pollack sued to stop transit projects.
As secretary of Massachusetts' DOT, she had to save them. statecraft.pub/p/how-to-salv…
Michael Bennon retweeted
After reading @GaneshSitaraman & Chris Serkin's "Post-Neoliberal Housing Policy" alongside @ezraklein's interview of @ZephyrTeachout & @saikatc, I think I'm finally starting to understand the crux of the Left's vehement reaction to Abundance.
🧵/22
In a new academic paper, Post-Neoliberal Housing Policy (forthcoming @PennLRev), Chris Serkin & I argue why it's insufficient to focus just on zoning and why an all-of-the-above approach is better. 4/5 cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/wp…
Last week for American Purpose and @JoinPersuasion I wrote about the federal civil service, NEPA reform, and sheep.
persuasion.community/p/unlea…
Michael Bennon retweeted
Future U.S. growth depends on whether we can build housing, energy generation, data centers, & more.
But we face long-standing obstacles to building.
I wrote for @ForeignAffairs about how building is a pragmatic, politically powerful path forward…
And how to get it done.
