Competing Permitting Reform Strategies

The House, Senate, and White House are all vocally supportive of substantial permitting reform policy. However, the pathway to get there varies drastically in the House and Senate.

The House passed the SPEED Act last year, which makes significant changes to NEPA. The PERMIT Act, which also passed last year, amends the Clean Water Act. On top of these comprehensive bills, House leadership is moving forward with piecemeal bills that address everything from changes to FERC and grid modernization to wildfire policy through changes to the Clean Air Act. While some of these bills are bipartisan, many are passing with Republican-only or small numbers of Democratic votes. This à la carte approach means that the House can continuously pass additional bills while pressure mounts for a comprehensive solution.

Meanwhile in the Senate, the two primary committees tasked with permitting reform – the Environment and Public Works Committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee – are working in a bipartisan, methodical way to shape one all-encompassing piece of legislation. While the goal is to ultimately find sixty-plus votes to pass out of the Senate, it involves buy-in on all aspects of the bill from key leaders – a more precarious tightrope to walk than in the House.

The House’s strategy will influence the Senate’s work, in that the Senate can pull House-passed bills to fill out a more comprehensive bill. In the meantime, though, stakeholders will have to rely on individual bills passing both chambers, such as the Build More Hydro Act that was signed into law this week.

As it goes with the different processes both chambers must take, the two strategies can complement each other. While we wait for larger legislation in the Senate, stakeholders will have to rely on pushing individual bills that have moved out of the House for short-term wins.