Energy

A bipartisan duo in Congress has introduced legislation to speed up permitting reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act while limiting legal challenges (POLITICO Pro, subscription). The NAM has called for NEPA reform for years.

What’s going on: Last Friday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) unveiled the SPEED Act to “help launch America into a future where we can effectively innovate and implement to revitalize our infrastructure, meet skyrocketing energy demands, lead the world in the AI race and work in harmony with our natural environment,” said Westerman, who told POLITICO Pro there “really seems to be momentum” in the government to make the changes outlined in the measure.

The backdrop: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said last week Republican leadership plans to make bipartisan permitting reform a priority this fall.

• “Under direction from Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order, the Council on Environmental Quality has pulled back federal-wide NEPA regulations, and agencies have weakened their own NEPA rules.”
• Senate Democrats have said recently they’re willing to restart permitting reform talks with Republicans.

What the measure would do: The SPEED Act “would codify parts of a May Supreme Court ruling that limited the scope of environmental reviews” and build on 2023 NEPA reforms, including the establishment of a two-year time limit on conducting environmental impact statements. And among other actions, it would:

• Stop agencies “from evaluating impacts outside the immediate causal result of the proposed action”;
• Reduce the number of projects that can be deemed “major federal action” and thus become subject to the NEPA process;
• Set a higher bar for judicial challenges, mandating that litigants sue within 150 days and courts issue judgments within 180 days;
• “[O]nly allow parties that provided substantive comments during the public review period the opportunity to issue a legal challenge”; and
• “[L]imit a court’s ability to remand an agency decision.”

Our take: “This bill provides critically needed clarity and guardrails for manufacturers to invest and grow in America—while maintaining public input and safeguarding our environment,” said NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Chris Phalen.

• “Energy sources of all types have for too long run into needless delays and frivolous litigation—delaying jobs for Americans and getting electrons on our grid. Manufacturers look forward to working with Chairman Westerman and Rep. Golden to advance this legislation as part of a comprehensive and bipartisan permitting reform package to drive America forward.”