A bipartisan group of senators failed to close a long-sought deal on legislation to ease permitting approvals for energy projects, kicking consideration of the issue until after the midterm elections.
A senior Democrat aide familiar with the negotiations and granted anonymity to discuss the matter told POLITICO on Thursday that Senate Democrats don’t think there’s enough time to get it done.
“The goal here has always been to pass permitting reform, not just to introduce it,” the aide said.
Top negotiators — Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), along with Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee and ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) — were unable to reach agreement on a package this week, despite recent overtures made by both sides.
The lack of a deal now means a permitting bill likely won’t get a vote until after the elections, when lawmakers are expected to face a packed legislative agenda and the power dynamics in Congress will begin to shift.
Republicans and the Trump administration were eager to lock in a vote soon, arguing legislation to ease permitting approvals for energy projects would represent a major bipartisan breakthrough to address voters’ affordability concerns.
President Donald Trump even signaled he would ease his administration’s blockade on wind projects to entice Democrats to agree on a permitting deal.
But Democrats wanted more time for their members to review any bill and are seeking stronger assurances that the Trump administration would lay off its attacks on clean energy projects. They also did not face the same political incentives to act now, with Trump and Republicans struggling in the polls.
“I appreciate very much what the Trump administration has done to move in this direction, but in order to brief colleagues on what this really means, we need just a bit more clarity on exactly what return to regular order for wind and solar projects looks like. So that’s still to be done, but that I think can happen in fairly short order,” Whitehouse told reporters Thursday.
For all the common ground in both parties around encouraging more energy production and accelerating projects to help address affordability concerns and meet rising power demand, permitting also touches on thorny issues for congressional Republicans, Democrats and this White House.
Democrats are pressing for significant measures to boost interstate transmission lines to deliver clean power to major demand centers and restrain the administration’s power to cancel projects or stall on approvals.
Republicans, for their part, want to limit states’ authority to reject projects under a provision of the Clean Water Act that Democratic governors have used to block interstate pipelines.
Other elements of a deal would likely include easing approvals and limiting legal challenges against projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock procedural environmental law that is increasingly blamed for stalling projects of all types, as well as under the National Historic Preservation Act, a landmark law designed to protect Native American cultural treasures.
Amelia Davidson contributed to this report.
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