House passes major GOP-led permitting overhaul after late drama

The House passed bipartisan legislation by a 221-196 vote Thursday aimed at overhauling federal permitting reviews in a bid to accelerate the construction of new energy and infrastructure projects amid surging power demand and rising electricity prices.

By approving the SPEED Act, which overhauls the National Environmental Policy Act, House Republicans were able to put their stamp on a bipartisan priority of easing the regulatory hurdles blamed for hampering the development of both fossil fuel and renewable energy projects.

Eleven Democrats voted for the bill, and one Republican opposed it.

"For too long, America’s broken permitting process has stifled economic development and innovation," said Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman, the architect of the bill. "This historic vote on the SPEED Act will fix the system by establishing the project certainty that’s currently lacking in the permitting process and allow America to build again."

But GOP leaders' late change to the SPEED Act to appease offshore wind foes on the right wing of the caucus irked Democrats and prompted some defections. That could make it harder to strike a deal on comprehensive permitting reform with the Senate.

Westerman, though, argued the bipartisan result created momentum. "We got 11 Democrats, even after all the theatrics. We said our goal was to have a bipartisan permitting bill in the Senate before the end of the year and we did it. We've sent them a really good piece of legislation."

Democrats and some moderate House Republicans said they were leaning on the Senate — where broader Democratic support is required to overcome a filibuster — to negotiate a more bipartisan product that would remove the language pushed by hard-liners and strengthen protections for clean energy.

“There is Democratic support for permitting reform,” said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif). “We always knew that the Democrats in the Senate were going to have a big role to play to bring it toward us.”