Senators crafting a bipartisan deal on permitting threw cold water on House Republicans’ suggestion Wednesday that they will try to advance language as part of a GOP-only budget reconciliation bill.
House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and other senior Republicans affirmed this week that they may try to streamline permit approvals for energy projects as part of their party’s forthcoming tax and spending package.
But on Thursday, Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said, “I don’t think that’s possible.”
The lack of buy-in from some of the Senate’s leading permitting reform advocates could be a death knell for conservatives’ dream of enacting permitting language for fossil fuel projects and pipelines without needing to offer concessions to Democrats who favor faster approvals for renewables and transmission.
