U.S. House Republicans’ central contribution to Congress’ infrastructure permitting reform push, the SPEED Act, ran into at least a partisan pothole as a deal over presidents reversing their predecessors’ permit approvals was upended in the Rules Committee.
The bill advanced out of the House Natural Resources Committee with some bipartisan support in November, and issues around presidential permit reversals already proved difficult to deal with then. (See House Natural Resources Committee Advances Permitting Bills.)
The deal struck in committee was that presidents no longer could reverse permits approved by prior administrations. For many Democrats, that was not enough because it would do nothing to salvage major offshore wind and other projects that President Donald Trump has upended or could before signing the bill into law.
Some Republicans felt even that restriction on presidential power went too far. Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.), who represents a district covering most of New Jersey’s coast and has long been an opponent of offshore wind, got an amendment passed specifically exempting offshore wind projects from that part of the bill.
“I support real permitting reform, and the SPEED Act does a lot of good things to unleash our energy potential,” Van Drew said in a statement. “But as it was previously written, it would have permanently protected offshore wind projects that were forced through the permitting process under the previous administration. I could not support that. After lengthy and deliberative discussions on the House floor, the amendment we secured today makes a critical change. It protects actions to terminate offshore wind permits and leases.”
Without the language around offshore wind companies, Van Drew said he would keep working with the Department of Interior to revoke offshore wind leases altogether.
While winning over Van Drew and other conservatives, the amendment led the American Clean Power Association to withdraw its support of the bill, it said in a letter to House leadership. Other groups influential with Democrats such as major environmentalist organizations were against the bill already, or neutral on it.
“Our support for permitting reform has always rested on one principle: fixing a broken system for all energy resources,” ACP CEO Jason Grumet said in a statement. “The amendment adopted last night violates that principle. Technology neutrality wasn’t just good policy — it was the political foundation that made reform achievable. Chairman Westerman’s original legislation demonstrated that Congress could move beyond stale energy debates. It’s disappointing that a partisan amendment in Rules Committee has now jeopardized that progress, turning what should have been a win for American energy into another missed opportunity.”
Without permitting reform, energy prices could spike and grid reliability deteriorate, he said, adding that ACP looks forward to working with Senate leaders to restore a balanced, technology-neutral approach that can become law.
The American Council on Renewable Energy released a statement thanking Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) for his work on the SPEED Act.
“Durable, bipartisan, technology-neutral permitting reforms that support and advance the full suite of American electricity resources and the necessary expansion of transmission infrastructure to get that electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed are essential to meeting that challenge reliably, securely and, most importantly, affordably,” ACORE CEO Ray Long said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the changes made on the House floor are a disappointing step backward from achieving these objectives.”
