Digital Precision, Smarter Decisions

Recent calls to modernize permitting technologies—including a landmark presidential memorandum—have prompted agencies across the U.S. to reevaluate their processes to meet current and future demands.

One of those public agencies, Washington State’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), incorporated an innovative digital approach into its programmatic permitting process by applying a transparent, data-driven methodology to support siting decisions for new transmission infrastructure.

Established in 1970, EFSEC is Washington State’s centralized permitting body for large-scale energy installations. To streamline the siting and permitting process for these facilities, EFSEC was directed to prepare a statewide environmental review of high-voltage transmission infrastructure, including overhead and underground lines, substations and related equipment.

To address this monumental effort, EFSEC hired WSP to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for Washington State. The goals of the assessment were to outline potential adverse impacts, provide mitigation measures, map the distribution of resource sensitivity to development and guide siting and design choices that would minimize both impacts and development costs.

Setting the Standard

Our digital team in the U.S. conducted a comprehensive environmental sensitivity analysis built on industry-standard multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). As part of our Spatial Decision Support services, this structured framework integrated complex environmental, social, technical and economic criteria into clear, location-based insights.

“We took all the technical and nuanced information and turned it into something that our client and the public can easily use—clear visuals and intuitive tools that allow readers to understand something complex, without having to be a subject matter expert,” said Mary Kristen, senior geographic information systems (GIS) consultant and GIS lead of the PEIS project at WSP in the U.S. “Our approach played a pivotal role in helping EFSEC deliver a defensible and accessible environmental review that supports smarter infrastructure planning.”

This structured, digital approach to environmental and siting evaluations also supports federal modernization goals by replacing paper-based workflows, improving coordination across agencies, and enhancing the clarity and defensibility of environmental documentation.

Heating Up

The result of the MCDA was a statewide spatial distribution of environmental sensitivity, visualized through intuitive “heat maps” that highlight areas more and less suitable for high-voltage transmission facility development.

We created 10 individual maps, each representing a specific resource category and illustrating varying levels of potential impact, to help planners identify lower-impact corridors early in the process and reduce future environmental risks and permitting challenges.

Each map was accompanied by a criteria mapbook and a data-inputs table documenting the expert-defined parameters used for each resource, ensuring transparency and traceability throughout the process. Together, these tools provided a clear and defensible foundation for smarter, data-informed infrastructure planning.

Turning Analysis into Action

To ensure the PEIS results could be easily accessed and applied, WSP’s team transformed the analysis into two interactive digital platforms.

The first is an ArcGIS StoryMap, designed to make the statewide assessment intuitive for the public and stakeholders. It provides an engaging way to explore the analysis, understand the nuance behind the criteria, and visualize environmental sensitivities across Washington. By presenting the science in a clear and interactive format, the StoryMap enhances transparency and public trust in the permitting process.

The second is a impact summary platform that allows users to upload or draw a corridor anywhere across Washington and instantly generate a customized summary report of potential environmental sensitivities and resource impacts within their area of interest. This capability transforms the PEIS from a static document into a living, data-driven tool that agencies, developers, and planners can use to evaluate options and identify risks early.

Powering Transparency

The final PEIS, developed in collaboration with multiple Washington state agencies and stakeholders, provided a comprehensive assessment of potential environmental impacts associated with transmission development. It thoroughly addressed 16 different resource types—from wildlife and vegetation to socioeconomics and military operations—and offered guidance on regulatory, siting and design considerations.

The PEIS, StoryMap, and Impact Summary Platform are all accessible through eProgrammatic, an interactive online guidance platform we developed to help SEPA lead agencies, developers and the public explore the PEIS contents and walk step-by-step through their environmental reviews.

Together, these digital solutions extend the reach of the PEIS, empowering users with accessible, on-demand insights that support smarter, faster and more transparent infrastructure planning.

“Our collaboration with EFSEC marks a significant advancement in environmental planning and permitting for energy infrastructure that can be applied by any organization,” said Jeremy Paris, project director at WSP in the U.S. and lead for the PEIS. “By integrating systematic analysis and stakeholder input, the PEIS sets a precedent for efficient, transparent and environmentally responsible transmission facility siting.”

Why Spatial Decision Support Matters

Permitting processes for large-scale infrastructure projects risk being slowed by outdated systems, fragmented data and manual reviews. These inefficiencies—which can result in delays, increased costs and uncertainty in meeting regulatory requirements—will grow in impact as projects become more complex and face heightened scrutiny.

Key benefits include:

• Defensible and transparent: Every step of the MCDA process is documented, providing a clear record of how decisions are made. This transparency builds trust with regulators, stakeholders and the public, and ensures decisions hold up under review.

   

• Faster evaluations: Automated workflows enable quicker assessments of project options and site suitability, helping teams identify risks and constraints early without relying on manual reviews.

   

• Clearer communication: Complex datasets are translated into accessible visual formats that help our clients make decisions, justify site selections and engage regulators and community stakeholders more effectively.

   

• Early risk identification: By flagging potential conflicts and constraints early in the process, the MCDA framework enables proactive planning, supporting better budgeting and mitigation strategies.

   

• Regulatory alignment: The framework is designed to reflect current federal and state permitting standards, helping ensure that evaluations are well-documented and legally defensible.

   

• Flexible design: A highly customizable structure allows users to adjust criteria, incorporate new data and explore multiple scenarios, making the service adaptable across a wide range of project needs.