Mary Beth Gentleman, a former co-chair of the energy practice at law firm Foley Hoag and current Hillary Clinton volunteer, said that the presumptive Democratic nominee for president would likely have coattails if elected, resulting in a switch to a Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, but a takeover of the U.S. House appears far less likely. While there may be opportunities for bipartisan energy legislation, a continuation of the legislative stalemate may continue.

“I think the Clinton approach will be to avoid legislation, if at all possible, avoid anything that is fully dependent on both houses passing something. Instead, she would use other tools in the toolbox [such as agency actions and executive orders] to advance a clean energy agenda,” she said.

Republicans would likely maintain control of both houses of Congress if Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee, is elected president, said David Tamasi, a senior vice president at Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications. The Trump campaign eschews traditional staples such as position papers, detailed policy discussions and other documents that signal the legislation he might pursue.

But based on a speech Trump gave in North Dakota at the end of May that called for promoting domestic fossil fuel production and weakening EPA, “his energy policy is absolutely in lock-step with what the Congressional leadership has been pushing,” Tamasi said. “There’s absolutely no daylight on that between them.”

Natural gas pipelines are primarily under the jurisdiction of FERC, but important reviews of them — and of transmission lines like Northern Pass — occur under EPA’s National Environmental Policy Act, said John Moskal, senior adviser for energy policy and infrastructure in EPA Region 1, which comprises New England.

“We’ve been dealing mostly with gas pipeline projects, whereas 10 years ago it was all LNG import terminals,” he said. “Natural gas has been part of the picture here for a long, long time.”

Marc Nascarella, director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s environmental toxicology program, said the state is unique in that 351 towns have health departments with input into power plant siting issues. And there are three components to every local review, he said.

“Environmental problems are extremely emotional. Environmental solutions are highly technical. … Environmental policy or environmental decisions are highly political. If there is a concern that this power plant is going to cause a health impact, and the political force gets the emotive response behind it, the science be damned,” he said.

This adds a layer of complexity to a project that may require modifications by the developer, he added.