Reforming NEPA for DOD's Energy Needs
The NDAA moodboarding continues
Last week on Green Tape, we talked about the upcoming NDAA negotiations and the opportunities for narrowly-tailored permitting reforms. In particular, my hope is that Congress will finally align NEPA with virtually every other environmental law by creating a carveout for defense readiness activities. In our current geopolitical moment, such a reform will be critical to our national security.
I’m convinced that there’s another big permitting reform opportunity for the upcoming defense package, however: a NEPA carveout for electricity infrastructure on Department of Defense (DoD) land. In short: electricity generation developed on or delivered to military installations should be exempt from NEPA.
The Opportunity
Readers may think this sounds like a niche reform. It is not. The Department of Defense owns 8.8 million acres of land in the United States. More importantly, DoD is the largest consumer of energy in the federal government and one of the largest consumers of energy in the world. Its purchasing power – and thus its ability to bring energy technologies to scale – is enormous.
To add some color, Federal agencies in 2023 used about 51.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, suggesting that DOD uses around 40 million MWh electricity each year. That’s equivalent to the combined annual output of several large nuclear reactors.
What’s more, DOD wants to leverage emerging energy technologies like geothermal. “Next-generation geothermal technologies show potential to produce onsite round-the-clock carbon-free energy year-after-year, increasing resilience and eliminating the need for fuel deliveries during long-term power disruptions,” DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit wrote last year. DoD has initiated seven geothermal projects in recent years at its military installations, working with the likes of Fervo Energy and Eavor Inc.
DOD’s demand potential, then, is enormous – but so too are the permitting barriers. Similar to the challenges faced on BLM land, DoD’s NEPA process often bottlenecks energy development. DoD environmental impact statements, for example, require an average of more than 3 years to complete across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. For our critical defense infrastructure, these delays are unacceptable.
What To Do
The upcoming NDAA is the perfect opportunity for reform. A targeted NEPA exemption could create a streamlined permitting process for electricity generation facilities and their associated transmission infrastructure on or near military installations.
More specifically, I’m imagining something like this:
Exempt electricity generation facilities with footprints under 20 acres (or up to 40 acres on previously disturbed land) that are built on DoD land or interconnected at the same transmission node
Exempt dedicated transmission lines (under, say, 30 miles) that connect off-site generation to military facilities
Streamline judicial review timelines, shortening the statute of limitations
Limit remedies that block harmless projects from moving forward, barring injunctions unless the project will create imminent environmental harm that cannot be otherwise mitigated
This approach would offer three key benefits: enhancing military security, accelerating energy deployment, and creating market pull for emerging technologies like advanced geothermal. And, much like our proposal for defense activities, it would preserve substantive environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act.
Simply put, this exemption would maintain environmental protections while empowering DOD to lead on energy security. The result would be a win for national defense and America’s long-term technological leadership.