It’s been years in the making, but the U.S. Senate finally has a bipartisan permitting bill on the table that could speed up the construction of much-needed energy and grid projects. That is, if the Trump administration’s latest round of offshore wind attacks doesn’t tank the whole thing.
Three weeks ago, a bipartisan group of senators released a bill that could dramatically speed up energy construction timelines. According to a new interactive tool from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, it takes nearly 18 years for a transmission project that faces delays and permit challenges to come into service. This legislation could shave as much as eight years off that timeline, in large part because it would allow federal regulators to grant permits when states don’t do so quickly enough.
Solar, wind, and geothermal projects would also get a faster track to completion under the bill — but so would gas pipelines, according to Columbia’s analysis. Pipelines’ speedier processing is one of many reasons some tribal and environmental groups are calling for revisions to the legislation. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) meanwhile raised concerns that it would allow for swifter data center construction.
Still, some clean energy advocates are taking the good with the bad. This week, Advanced Energy United, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and three other industry groups sent a letter to congressional leaders urging the legislation’s swift passage. A surprising coalition of former officials from the Trump, Biden, Obama, Clinton, and both Bush administrations shared their support for the bill in a letter, too.
But all that advocacy may not mean a thing now that the Trump administration has revived its war on offshore wind. On Tuesday, the Justice Department asked a court to let the federal government reconsider its permit for New England Wind, a 2-gigawatt development off Massachusetts. The administration similarly wants to reconsider a permit for Revolution Wind, which is already producing power, and a few other offshore projects.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), one of the bill’s sponsors, made it clear what the DOJ’s move means for the legislation’s chances: “This is how you blow up a permitting deal,” he told Politico.
The administration reportedly offered a concession on Thursday morning, with a White House official saying the Defense Department would allow a handful of long-delayed onshore wind projects to proceed. Whitehouse told Punchbowl News that it would only be “a start” to getting negotiations back on track.
The Senate isn’t set to vote on the bill until after the midterm elections. But with lobbying groups lining up to reshape the legislation, and the Trump administration showing it’s capable of upending the deal at a moment’s notice, it looks like the bill has a rocky few weeks ahead.
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