Senators on Wednesday clinched a long-awaited construction permitting deal just before the chamber is set to leave Washington until after November's midterm election, setting up a race to deliver a top business priority in the coming lame-duck congressional session.
Lawmakers have long prioritized streamlining the nation's complex web of federal permitting laws to speed the buildout of energy projects and other critical infrastructure. Permits are lengthy processes that often take years to complete — a problem as the U.S. seeks to build out more power capacity to feed electricity-hungry data centers. The bipartisan deal, struck by Sens.
Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I, Mike Lee, R- Utah and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., gets Congress significantly closer to passing permitting reform. It would ultimately benefit both traditional forms of fossil-based energy and clean energy sources, both of which can be bottlenecked by permitting snags.
The measure, dubbed the "Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act" would also require data center developers to pay their own energy transmission costs.
The negotiators touted the deal as a way to both lower energy costs and build big infrastructure in a timely manner. "If we can pass this bill, we will flood the grid with clean, affordable energy and make data centers start paying their fair share," Whitehouse said in a statement with the release of the deal. "We believe it is a compromise that will result in a brighter, cleaner, more affordable future." Capito said in a statement that "broken and outdated federal environmental review and permitting processes have stood in the way of energy reliability, secure jobs, modern infrastructure, and economic growth." "The bipartisan reforms we secured in this deal will transform our nation's ability to power our economy and fuel future growth, while continuing to protect the land, water, and wildlife we all cherish," she said.
The bill is now expected to be a top priority in the Senate during the lame-duck session that will follow the Nov. 3 election. Capito, during a press conference announcing the deal, said the negotiators are eyeing it to be the first vote they take when they return. Sen.
Chris Coons, D-Del., told CNBC earlier Wednesday that permitting reform and funding the government will be the top priorities for the senators upon their return. "Appropriations, permitting. I think there will be a permitting bill ready for us to act on," Coons said