 Energy & Environment |
Energy & Environment |
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Permitting bill advances after hardliner pushback |
A group of hardline conservatives in the House on Tuesday threatened to block a permitting reform bill, but ended their saber-rattling and voted to advance the measure after saying they won some concessions. |
The bill, dubbed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, seeks to speed up infrastructure projects by curtailing their environmental scrutiny. Six Republicans had initially voted against the rule that would tee up votes on the bill and other measures. Rule votes are generally party-line affairs and a test of party loyalty, regardless of how lawmakers intend to vote on the underlying legislation. The hardliners, who had raised concerns about a provision that would make it harder for the Trump administration to revoke prior approvals of renewable projects, appeared to indicate that they reached a deal that would protect the revocations already done by the Trump administration. "We got an agreement to amend the bill," said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), one of the holdouts who had flipped his vote. "They'll protect all the remands that have been in place before the date of enactment." The SPEED Act seeks to quicken approval for energy and other infrastructure projects — an objective that has become known as "permitting reform" and has been subject to negotiations between Democrats and Republicans for years. In order to get more Democrats on board, language had been inserted to prevent federal agencies from rescinding energy approvals except in limited situations. The latest round of Republican opposition to the legislation indicates the difficult path that any effort to pass an infrastructure bill may face — as it could be difficult to draft legislation that satisfies enough Senate Democrats and House Freedom Caucus members. Read more here from Rachel and The Hill's Sudiksha Kochi. |
Welcome to The Hill's Energy & Environment newsletter, I'm Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains. |
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Oil prices on Tuesday dropped to their lowest point since 2021. |
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Three Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they are investigating the impact of data centers on consumer electricity bills amid concerns that the expansion of energy-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is driving up costs. |
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News we've flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics: |
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Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: |
- On Wednesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is slated to vote on whether to advance several bills.
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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President Trump will deliver a live televised address from the White House on Wednesday evening. Read more |
| President Trump is facing backlash from both ends of the political spectrum for his response to the killings of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, with some critics arguing the president's words were particularly troublesome in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Read more |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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