Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
Rep. Scott Peters is optimistic about the Manchin-Barrasso bipartisan permitting bill passing in the lame duck.
Why it matters: Peters is a leading Democratic voice in support of accelerating environmental reviews for infrastructure projects.
- About 20 other Democrats support the measure as well, he told a group of reporters Thursday.
State of play: The Senate bill hasn't moved since Senate ENR approved it in July.
- The House currently has a GOP draft bill that proposes major changes to NEPA, a law many Democrats don't want to touch.
What he's saying: "It's possible we'll still do this," Peters said, adding he still needs to talk to Rep. Bruce Westerman, the draft bill's sponsor.
- Peters supports updating NEPA to allow projects that clean up the economy to clear unnecessary delays, many of which are caused by environmental groups, he said.
- This week's DC Circuit finding that CEQ has no authority to issue binding NEPA regs to agencies only makes things more complicated.
- "The whole thing's a mess," Peters said. "My pitch has been that we should just modernize environmental laws to meet today's environmental challenges."
What's next: If a bipartisan deal isn't reached in the lame duck, provisions to provide a greater federal role for electric transmission permitting will likely fall off and fossil fuel interests will take over, he said.
- Rising demand growth from data centers could raise attention on the need for transmission, but electric utilities — a powerful lobby — have controlled GOP opposition to those provisions, he said.
