Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday, October 12, signed what they called “a model of federal-state initiative and cooperation” to use expedited review and processing and Recovery Act funding to spur the development of environmentally appropriate renewable energy on U.S. lands in California.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, Interior and state agencies will not only expedite the siting, permitting and processing of renewable energy projects but also develop a timeline that provides applicants for these projects with permitting schedules required to meet the recovery act’s Dec. 1, 2010 deadline for beginning construction.