House Republican leaders are planning two weeks of floor action on permitting, starting with legislation to ease Clean Water Act scrutiny of projects and pipeline permitting reviews.
The action is a major step on the road to a broad permitting compromise that members of both parties want to pass this Congress. But deep divisions persist between and within parties.
House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-W.Va.), for example, has been looking to secure support for the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act,” H.R. 4776, which would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act. It’s scheduled to reach the floor next week.
Many Democrats say it would go too far in cutting oversight of polluters and public participation. Far-right conservatives are now saying it would continue federal incentives for renewable energy.
Bills on the floor agenda this week are likely to pass easily. Some are even expected to advance with broad bipartisan backing under a process called suspension of the rules.
One sweeping measure, H.R. 3898, the “Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act,” cobbles together several Republican bills to facilitate Clean Water Act reviews.
The bill would limit state authority to block projects like pipelines, would add limits for environmental suits and would restrict EPA’s ability to veto Army Corps of Engineers permits.
The package has the backing of major trade groups. Environmentalists and most Democrats, on the other hand, argue the legislation would tie the hands of EPA and state regulators.
Also on deck this week, H.R. 3668, from Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), would amend the Natural Gas Act to empower the Federal Regulatory Agency Commission to accelerate pipeline reviews.
On the suspension calendar are: H.R. 4503, the “ePermit Act,” which would better digitize the permit process, and H.R. 573, the “Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act,” which would direct the Council on Environmental Quality to publish an annual report.
NEPA bill drama
This week’s legislation includes key Republican demands in the broader permitting discussions. A bipartisan trade-off, in theory, could include a mix of faster reviews, litigation limits, permitting certainty for specific renewable projects, a transmission build-out and perks for mining.
Republicans have succeeded in rolling back NEPA’s reach on Capitol Hill and in the Supreme Court. But they want more. Democrats, for their part, are focused on promoting renewable energy, making sure that green generation can reach population centers and stopping President Donald Trump from attacking projects.
Westerman, trying to corral both sides, is running into trouble with House Freedom Caucus members who say his bill would give Democrats too much. They find a bipartisan committee amendment on permit certainty particularly egregious.
“The last thing we need to do with offshore wind is to tie the administration’s hands in stopping that ridiculously expensive source of energy that enriches foreign companies with American taxpayer dollars,” said Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) last week. “Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the ‘SPEED Act’ would do.”
Last week, Westerman went on the Newt Gingrich’s podcast to talk about the need for NEPA reform, echoing an argument that has been blaring from the White House: affordability.
“There’s probably not any one issue that effects every American more than NEPA other than tax policy,” he said, pointing to its impact on ports, airports, pipelines and the grid. “Some way or another the NEPA process effects all Americans,” he said.
Tom Pyle, president of the conservative American Energy Alliance, said the measure “shouldn’t be controversial since it is seeking to get NEPA back to its original intent.”
But he argued it should not be used as a bargaining chip for socializing the cost of transmission. “That would be a lopsided trade,” he said. “We would need way more than that.”
Reporter Miranda Wilson contributed.
