Feds Aim to Speed Approval of Infrastructure

The federal government is on track to invest $1.2 trillion to overhaul American infrastructure, with $80 billion headed to the electric grid. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Christine Harada who is the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. It was created in 2015 to help facilitate government approvals of major projects.“I want to make sure that we’re putting boots on the ground—that we have the construction workers who are there and actually making the infrastructure happen,” Harada said.The impact of the council’s work is significant and measurable. “We have found that we were able to decrease the overall timeframe by upwards of 2-2½ years just simply because of the transparency provided by the dashboard and by the activities that this Council takes on to be able to help negotiate and review and resolve challenges.” As for transmission projects, Harada hopes to trim approval times by at least 10 percent. “I am an overachiever so I would love to achieve something like 25%. I think that’s certainly just within the federal agencies’ realm of control, 10% is a great target. Working with state and local entities, I think that something like a 25% reduction would be a great stretch target.”Harada was named Executive Director in July of 2021. She will manage a portfolio of nearly $60 billion in large-scale infrastructure projects—most of which are renewable energy, coastal restoration, and electricity transmission. Harada will lead 13 federal agencies, state agencies, and project sponsors to develop and implement project-specific timetables for all required reviews and authorizations.Harada holds a master's degree in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School at Penn. Additionally, she has a master's degree from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in aeronautics and astronautics.