The Federal Government Should Encourage Early Public, Regulatory, and Industry Cooperation in Siting Energy Facilities

GAO reported on whether open-site planning for energy facilities could help balance energy and environmental concerns and what role, if any, the federal government should play in increasing the use of open-site planning processes.

Planning can be improved, and costly, time consuming licensing conflicts can be minimized if energy facility sponsors effectively consult with regulators and the public about their concerns early in project plans, while plans are still flexible. The traditional site-selection process involves industry deciding on the site, announcing the site commitment, and defending it before the regulatory agencies. This process often results in extended conflict and controversy because: project sponsors are reluctant to revise plans after applying for licenses, misunderstandings occur between industry and regulators, public hearings require additional time and money, the adversarial nature of regulatory proceedings promotes conflict and polarization, and conflicts may continue through costly and time consuming appeals. Opening the site-planning process to regulators and the public can potentially save time and money and result in more acceptable energy facility planning. GAO reviewed several open-site planning processes where industry initiatives included regulators and the public as early advisers rather than just reactive reviewers or adversaries. In other instances, regulators and the public took major initiatives in finding sites for energy facilities. GAO found that most participants were satisfied that open-site planning improved the siting process and reduced uncertainty regarding the acceptability of industry proposals. In addition, open-site planning can help in balancing domestic energy development with environmental protection and public participation values.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Donald Z. Forcier Team: General Accounting Office: Energy and Minerals Division Phone: (202) 275-4957