Proposals for sweeping federal permitting reforms have been circulating Capitol Hill, and one key senator involved said lawmaker discussions are “pretty constant right now.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said he’s eyeing the end of the year to release a framework that’s “clear enough as to where we’re going.”
“We’d like to see one large, balanced package,” he said. “I would hope we’d have something fairly distinctly, concretely by the end of this year.
“I don’t think we necessarily have to be down to legislative language, but it has to be clear enough to where we’re going so our colleagues have a chance to look at it and kick the tires and see what their concerns are.”
The comments were something of a public about-face for Whitehouse, who last week spent several minutes during a committee hearing warning that the Trump administration’s widespread attacks on clean energy projects stand to impede a deal of any kind. While he continues to stress that concern, he sounded notably optimistic Tuesday.
“I think there’s good faith on all four corners,” Whitehouse said, referring to Environment Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah), and ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
He had less concern for what’s happening in the Republican-led House, where committees are pulling together proposals with bold ideas on the grid and changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
“The EPW team is keeping an eye on that, but we’re really trying to negotiate our own bill with Chair Capito and Lee,” he said.
A bill he could support would include dramatic improvements in transmission infrastructure and lead to a net reduction of emissions.
“And it would contain safeguards to protect against more abuse and illegality by the Trump administration in the energy space,” he said. “There’s language kicking around, but it’s not too far.”
He echoed comments made by Capito last week at an American Petroleum Institute event, where she suggested she’d like to get as many as 15 to 20 Democrats in support. “We might even do better than that, who knows,” Whitehouse said.
Exactly how such proposals get anywhere near enough Republican buy-in in either chamber remains a wide open question — but pressure from K Street and beyond has ramped up and renewed optimism abounds after proposals in past years fizzled out.
Letter from governors
Several red and blue state governors who sent a letter to congressional committees Tuesday laying out bipartisan priorities such as expanded categorical exclusions from strict reviews, shorter timelines and litigation limits.
“Governors have long agreed that these processes too often add costs and delays to critical energy projects,” they wrote.
The governors included Kevin Stitt (R) of Oklahoma, Josh Shapiro (D) of Pennsylvania, Jared Polis (D) of Colorado, Ned Lamont (D) of Connecticut, Mike Braun (R) of Indiana, Jeff Landry (R) of Louisiana, Wes Moore (D) of Maryland, Maura Healey (D) of Massachusetts, Kelly Armstrong (R) of North Dakota, Dan McKee (D) of Rhode Island, Bill Lee (R) of Tennessee, Spencer Cox (R) of Utah and Mark Gordon (R) of Wyoming.
The governors said they played a key role in modest permitting provisions that were incorporated into the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“We now write again with greater urgency, in a context of rising demand for electricity to serve computing, industrial, manufacturing, building, and transportation needs, to provide a set of commonsense compromises that we believe can meet the moment,” said their letter.
This week, the Western Governors’ Association is holding two days of meetings in Colorado, where there was discussion of states taking the lead on the permitting and regulations, said the group’s spokesperson, Jack Spina.
Legislation vs. executive action
A Supreme Court ruling limiting NEPA’s scope and Trump administration actions have already eased reviews. That means Republicans are looking to explore changes to other laws, noted Devin Hartman, director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the R Street Institute.
“I think the conservative leadership in White House and Congress is trying to get a sense of what is left on NEPA in light of the recent court decision in particular,” Hartman said. “The conversations I’ve had would suggest they are quite optimistic that further executive action would accomplish a lot.”
Asked if he had red lines for opening up other environmental laws, Whitehouse said, “I think a lot of that will depend on what the proposal is.”
He similarly was unsure if the Trump White House was eager to see legislation advance, calling that “still an unknown.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
