The permitting bill enters a critical stretch
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The push to pass a sweeping permitting bill is gaining powerful allies and encountering fresh resistance as Congress prepares for a post-midterms showdown.
Why it matters: It's the most important energy bill in a long time.
- Cutting hurdles for projects is a top priority for fossil fuels and renewables sectors.
- But some environmentalists say it badly weakens crucial protections in the name of speeding reviews.
Driving the news: A new, interactive analysis out on Wednesday projects potentially huge time savings if the bill becomes law.
- Transmission projects could see the biggest acceleration, per Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh, a researcher with Columbia's energy think tank.
- He based it on historical data about a large number of specific projects, then estimated how much quicker they would have proceeded under the bill.
- Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy doesn't have an institutional position on the bill. But founding director Jason Bordoff, a prominent voice in energy policy circles, is urging environmentalists not to oppose it.
State of play: A who's who of economic and national security officials spanning six presidents (including Trump) are linking arms behind the bill in a new letter to Capitol Hill leaders.
What's next: The effort goes beyond signatures for some of the former officials, according to letter organizer Arnab Datta of the Institute for Progress, a nonpartisan think tank.
- "Some folks are engaging beyond the letter itself with stakeholders across the board, and some have made themselves available for members briefings or conversations," he tells me via email.
Catch up quick: The letter from 19 officials includes Biden-era Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Trump 1.0 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, among five people who held the job.
- The list also features Trump 1.0 Secretary of State and CIA boss Mike Pompeo, and Leon Panetta, who had top Obama-era defense and CIA gigs, to name just two others.
Friction point: The last 24 hours has also brought new signs of simmering opposition to the bill, or at least parts of it, adding to existing concerns among tribal leaders and some green groups.
- Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) posted on X that it would be "tone deaf if Congress makes it easier to build data centers."
- That drew pushback from backers who emphasized provisions to ensure data center companies cover grid costs.
What we're watching: The Edison Electric Institute, a powerful group of for-profit utilities, still hasn't weighed in.
- But David Pomerantz, who's with the progressive Energy & Policy Institute obtained an Oklahoma Gas & Electric document criticizing the transmission provisions.
The bottom line: The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on the bipartisan permitting bill immediately after lawmakers return from recess.
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