In a significant move that could reshape the landscape of infrastructure deployment in the United States, Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) introduced their long-awaited permitting reform proposal S. 4753, the Energy Permitting and Reform Act of 2024. This bill marks a significant breakthrough in the Senate, signaling strong renewed interest and momentum for meaningful permitting reform. This action follows the House passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, in early 2023, which included significant permitting reforms, as well as modest permitting provisions included in the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act which was signed into law last year.
Federal Permitting is Broken
The United States is currently witnessing an unprecedented surge in energy demand, manufacturing growth, and infrastructure requirements. However, the federal system responsible for permitting these critical projects is failing, as evidenced by extended project timelines, litigation issues and significant economic impacts.
On federal lands, it takes roughly four years to construct utility-scale wind and solar projects, 7-10 years to obtain a mining permit and ten years to build a new transmission line. When nations like Canada and Australia can issue equally stringent environmental permits in two to three years, it becomes clear that the U.S. is failing to keep a globally competitive edge because of an obstructive permitting system.
Serial litigation in permitting processes is a significant obstacle to the timely completion of energy and infrastructure projects. Radical environmental groups exploit the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to hinder energy and infrastructure projects, often filing appeals up to six years after permit decisions. On average, settling these challenges takes 4.2 years, even though agencies win about 80 percent of these cases, rarely altering the outcome. This unnecessary litigation burdens the U.S. judicial system and diverts critical administrative resources away from the permitting process – compounding backlogs.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP) estimates that failure to address permitting reform puts 100 gigawatts of clean energy projects at risk of significant delay. These delays represent over $100 billion in lost investment, 150,000 fewer American jobs, an additional 550 million metric tons of carbon emissions this decade and delayed energy independence from foreign sources.
Fixing Processes and Offering Certainty
The Energy Permitting and Reform Act of 2024 includes many important provisions that will help fix this broken system but should not be mistaken as a cure for all permitting issues. Specifically, the legislation:
- Expedites timelines while preserving stakeholder input;
- Streamlines right-of-way processes and prevents energy projects from entering an unnecessary jurisdictional limbo;
- Utilizes commonsense categorical exclusions for various energy technologies that will result in accelerated clean energy deployment while ensuring continued environmental protection;
- Provides for a routine leasing cadence on federal areas to ensure the United States can access its abundant resources;
- Reduces obstacles to accessing domestic critical minerals vital to our clean energy future; and
- Addresses issues that slow energy infrastructure development.
While some environmental advocates quickly criticized provisions in the bill that benefit nonrenewable resources, it is important to understand this legislation will not prescribe or dictate outcome. Rather, it will work to improve the process for energy and infrastructure projects and provide regulatory certainty. While projects on federal lands still must meet stringent requirements within other laws and regulations, these projects will be less likely to fall into regulatory limbo.
Next Steps
Recently, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee overwhelmingly advanced the Energy Permitting and Reform Act of 2024 with a strong, bipartisan vote of 15 to 4. Notably, more Republicans than Democrats voted in favor of the bill. While both Sen. Barrasso and Sen. Manchin acknowledge that more work needs to be done, it is an important milestone that offers momentum for the full Senate to consider this legislation and continue bicameral, bipartisan permitting reform conversations this fall.
Although the legislative path forward for broad permitting reform through both the Senate and House remains uncertain, one thing is clear: Both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress know permitting reform is a necessity to remain globally competitive in the next century. Congress must build on this momentum and find consensus because the time to act and modernize our federal permitting processes is now.