There is NO WAY permitting will take a year. NOOOO WAYYYY.
3 Reasons:
1. John is not stupid. I would bet my house he himself has already had discussions with the appropriate permitting agencies and knows what is needed. The clear evidence of this is that they have selected 3 states/areas where they will do the first set of JVs. They picked those 3 areas to make the approval processes manageable...mangeable as in they already know what they need and are gettng it as we type.
2. It will be very visible and exciting. Those permitting agencies and the personnel working on it will give it ample attention. In other words, it will not sit at the bottom of any pile of paperwork.
3. It will represent jobs, greenness, national security and, oh yeah, JOBS! Everey executive politician in a local or state government that John contacts in the areas where he needs permitting will jump on it like flies on S#$%!