Permitting Overhaul Clears the Senate’s First Hurdle 73-25 as 21 Democrats Join Republicans

The U.S. Senate voted 73-25 on Monday, Nov. 9, to take up a sweeping permitting reform bill, clearing the 60-vote threshold with support from 51 Republicans and 22 members of the Democratic caucus. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, known as BAAJA, would shorten federal environmental reviews, narrow the window for lawsuits against approved projects and require data center developers to pay for the power they use.

The vote, on a motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, a House-passed bill being used as the legislative vehicle, sets up debate and a final Senate vote expected later this month. President Donald Trump said on Nov. 8 that he would sign the bill if it reached his desk, Engineering News-Record reported.

What the bill would change

The legislation was introduced in late September by the leaders of two Senate committees after negotiations with the White House: Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee, R-Utah, and ranking member Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

Capito said on the floor that the bill has two parts. The first rewrites parts of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and gives permit holders certainty that approvals will stand if they stay in compliance with the law. The second covers the National Historic Preservation Act and the Federal Power Act and includes the Ratepayer Protection Act, which Capito said would make data centers “pay their own way instead of American consumers facing increased costs through rising utility bills.” ENR reported that the bill would also shorten NEPA review timelines for energy infrastructure and the period in which legal challenges can be filed.

What the vote shows

Republicans voted 51-1 in favor, with only Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota opposed, according to the Senate roll call. Democrats split 21-23, and the two independents divided, with Maine’s Angus King voting yes and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders voting no. Two senators did not vote.

By The Boston Report’s count from the roll call, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and both Rhode Island senators, Whitehouse and Jack Reed, backed the motion, as did both Democrats from Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. Democrats split in Arizona, Colorado and New Hampshire: Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper and Jeanne Shaheen voted yes, while Mark Kelly, Michael Bennet and Maggie Hassan voted no. Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey voted no, as did Vermont’s Peter Welch. Without the 22 yes votes from the Democratic caucus, the motion would have reached only 51, nine short of the 60 needed.

Supporters and opponents

Capito cited National Association of Manufacturers data putting the cost of permitting delays at $12.1 billion a year and McKinsey figures showing $1.8 trillion in investment tied up in the federal permitting system. She also pointed to a White House Council of Economic Advisers estimate that the reforms would add $82 billion to $164 billion in economic output a year. Those figures come from supporters and have not been independently tested.

Backers range from the American Petroleum Institute and the Solar Energy Industries Association to the Laborers’ International Union of North America and North America’s Building Trades Unions. A Nov. 6 analysis by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and Greenline Insights found the reforms would likely reduce power system costs and emissions, though it said it had not reviewed every environmental and legal tradeoff, ENR reported. Tribal, environmental and historic preservation groups oppose the measure, arguing it would cut community input and the time available for reviews.

The House problem

The bill still has to pass the U.S. House, where some Democrats have said they will oppose it and others want to wait until January, when the incoming Democratic majority would have more leverage, according to ENR. Attendance is another question in a lame-duck session after the midterms, since members who lost re-election must return to vote. The data center provisions could also draw attention after recent fights over data center moratoriums.

The House did move on nuclear energy Monday night, passing the Nuclear REFUEL Act 397-2 and the American Enrichment Deployment Act 394-3 under suspension of the rules, according to the House Clerk. The REFUEL Act, sponsored by Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Scott Peters, D-Calif., would place certain spent-fuel recycling facilities under a single-step Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing process. The enrichment bill, introduced by Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., and cosponsored by Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss among others, would let uranium enrichment plants begin construction at their own risk before receiving a final NRC license, on the same terms as other fuel-cycle facilities. The bill text says the NRC keeps its authority to deny a license and must issue implementing rules within 180 days of enactment. Both bills now go to the Senate.

Sources

• U.S. Senate EPW Committee: Senate Advances Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (Capito floor remarks)
• Engineering News-Record: Permitting Reform Inches Closer to Passage with Senate Vote
• 4Search Politics: Senate Vote 257, cloture on motion to proceed to H.R. 2347
• Office of the Clerk, U.S. House: Roll Call 315, H.R. 3978 Nuclear REFUEL Act
• Office of the Clerk, U.S. House: Roll Call 316, H.R. 9612 American Enrichment Deployment Act
• GovInfo: H.R. 9612, American Enrichment Deployment Act (reported in House)
• Quiver Quantitative: Latta, Peters applaud House passage of Nuclear REFUEL Act