Senate Nears Permitting Reform Deal as White House Softens on Renewables
Senate Democrats say a permitting reform deal is close after White House concessions on wind and solar, though a vote before the midterms is uncertain.
The US Senate is moving closer to an agreement on overhauling the laws that govern permits for large infrastructure projects, after the White House softened its position on how renewable energy would be treated under the legislation, a senior Senate Democrat said.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the ranking Democrat on the environment committee, said he and fellow Democrat Martin Heinrich have spent months negotiating permitting legislation with Republican counterparts. The talks had stalled in December after President Donald Trump halted five near-complete offshore wind farms along the East Coast.
Whitehouse told reporters that the administration has since given Democrats assurances that wind and solar projects would be handled better under the bill. He welcomed the shift, saying the remaining questions concern ordinary Senate procedure and the need for clearer guidance from the executive branch on what its commitments on renewables mean in practice.
According to Whitehouse, the broad parameters of the agreement will be turned into legislative language within days or hours, allowing other lawmakers, industry groups and environmental organizations to review the text.
A White House spokesperson said the administration is actively working to pass historic permitting reform aimed at improving energy infrastructure and lowering costs.
Trump has in his second term constrained the expansion of clean energy technologies that were central to former President Joe Biden's climate agenda. Democrats have nonetheless signalled a willingness to revise bedrock environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act, which Republicans argue cause lengthy delays for major projects. In return, Democrats have demanded faster construction of modern transmission lines capable of carrying electricity from intermittent sources such as wind and solar.
Major trade groups representing electric utilities, renewable energy developers and the oil and gas sector have pressed lawmakers to pass bipartisan permitting reform this year. The House of Representatives has not passed the bill and is scheduled to remain in recess until after the November midterm elections, leaving the timing of any Senate vote unclear.