House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman on Wednesday defended last-minute changes to his big permitting bill as part of a deal with conservatives and offshore wind foes.
The American Clean Power Association pulled its support for the “SPEED Act” because of those changes, but Westerman suggested he wasn’t bothered.
The Arkansas Republican said the move to appease House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) and other anti-offshore-wind members was the least bad option to advance his signature legislation to overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act.
Advertisement
“If this failed, we probably would not have gotten permitting reform done,” Westerman said.
