Trump Pushes To Speed Pipeline, Power Plant Approvals Before Democrats Take Over

President Donald Trump urged senators Sunday to pass a bipartisan bill that would speed permits for pipelines, mines and power plants before Democrats take over Congress.

A procedural vote on the package is set for about 5:30 p.m. ET Monday, according to the Senate Democrats’ floor schedule. The bill would need at least 60 votes to move forward due to the Senate’s filibuster.

“This Landmark Permitting Reform Legislation will codify our America First Energy Agenda, and ensure that we can build Pipelines, Mines, and Power Plants faster than ever before, lowering Energy Costs for American Families, and creating High Paying American Jobs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

The president said the legislation also codifies his “RATEPAYER PROTECTION PLEDGE,” which he described as “ensuring Data Centers build and pay for their own Electricity.”

The revised bill would have the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission write rules meant to make data centers and other large computing users bear the cost of grid infrastructure built to serve them, the text shows.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Taylor Rogers referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the president’s post.

The four senators who negotiated the bill released the new version Saturday.

Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee led the talks alongside Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Capito, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, urged Congress to pass the revised bill in a statement to the DCNF.

“This substitute amendment preserves the foundation of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, while making targeted changes based on feedback from our members and stakeholders to further build support,” Capito said.

Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said in a statement to the DCNF that he would vote to advance the bill.

“Our success is tied to the ability to build the infrastructure to get our abundant electricity, food, and fuel to market,” Cramer said.

Asked what would be lost if the bill stalled in the House and permitting were left to the new Congress, Cramer said, “It won’t happen. Anyone who says it will is intentionally delaying the bill to upset the balance negotiators achieved.”

The offices of Lee, Heinrich and Whitehouse did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, opposes the current version and has argued that House Democrats have not had enough say, Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg also reported that some progressive Democrats want to hold off and push for a better deal when their party controls both chambers next year. Democrats won the House and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms and take over when the new Congress is seated, Roll Call reported.

Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement that the revised text answers “the thoughtful feedback we have received,” Roll Call reported.

“Now it’s time to pass this bill so we can lower costs, juice the clean energy economy, build big things again in America, reduce pollution, and create tons of new well-paying union jobs,” Whitehouse said.

Block Field

A Congressional Research Service summary shows that the version Capito introduced would cut the number of federal actions that need a National Environmental Policy Act review. The revised text would also set deadlines for agencies to decide on permit applications after environmental reviews.

It would also eliminate Interior Department drilling permits for certain oil and gas wells on nonfederal land, while preserving applicable state requirements.

Matt Mailloux, director of clean energy innovation and permitting at ClearPath Action, called on Congress to send the package to Trump in a statement to the DCNF.

“Congress has been debating permitting reform for years, including a bipartisan package that almost made it across the line two years ago. Since then, electricity bills have gone up, and affordability has become a top issue for voters,” Mailloux said.

American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert said in a statement to the DCNF that the bill “will streamline permitting and help critical infrastructure projects move more quickly across the energy ecosystem, including natural gas, wind, solar, hydropower and nuclear.”

“Every additional month of delay without passage of meaningful permitting reform leaves cumbersome, outdated policy in place resulting in uncertainty and unnecessary costs that ripple through the economy and ultimately land on families,” Harbert said.

Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade group representing refiners, also urged Congress to pass the package in a statement Monday.

Jason Hayes, a senior research fellow for energy and the environment at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said in a statement to the DCNF that the think tank supports the bill.

“We recognize that the bill is not perfect. But it is a significant improvement over the current permitting system, which has trapped America in an endless morass of regulatory delays and lawfare that restrict productivity and prevent critical infrastructure from getting built,” Hayes said.

Hayes said that Heritage was “pleased to see the manager’s amendment addresses many of our initial concerns” about the transmission provisions “by strengthening reliability requirements and tying costs to demonstrable economic and reliability benefits.”

National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara said in a statement to the DCNF that the group “cannot support the legislation in its current form.”

“While wildlife survival urgently requires accelerating emission reductions, those gains are not guaranteed under this bill,” O’Mara said.

He said the proposed changes to the nation’s bedrock environmental laws warrant “more deliberation than is possible during a truncated lame-duck session.”

The White House and Senate Republican leaders had pushed to pass the bill before the election. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said in a Sept. 24 floor speech that the GOP and White House had “closed the deal” on a bill that “incorporated essentially all” of what Democrats wanted, Roll Call reported.

“Democrats can’t take yes for an answer,” Thune said.

Capito introduced S. 5653 on Sept. 30 with Lee, Whitehouse and Heinrich as cosponsors, according to Congress.gov. A cloture motion setting up Monday’s vote on H.R. 2347, a House-passed tax bill serving as the vehicle, was filed the same day — before the Senate left Washington until after the midterms.

The American Petroleum Institute headed an industry letter urging Congress to pass the bill during the lame-duck session, according to Roll Call.

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