Senate has three months to pass permitting reform, GOP negotiator warns

But with limited floor time in the Senate, as well as the midterm elections and the possibility of a change in the majority fast approaching, the timeline to do so is getting tight. 

“I do think the window is pretty narrow on when the Senate could — needs to get something together,” Westerman said during a Thursday interview. “But maybe I’m just the eternal optimist, but I think they’re going to come through.” 

For the Arkansas Republican, this window will close in just a few months. 

“The sooner the better,” he said. “But I actually think we’ve probably got three or four more months that it could happen in. Some people will say we’ve got two months or less.” 

The push from the House 

One month ago, there was widespread agreement across Washington that Congress had the momentum to pass meaningful legislation early this year to streamline the permitting process, as both Republican and Democratic members have seen clean energy, fossil fuel, and other infrastructure-related industries hamstrung by the lengthy process.

The House successfully passed several permitting-related bills, including Westerman’s Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act. Also known as the SPEED Act, the legislation is backed by hundreds of energy and manufacturing organizations and received bipartisan support as it was advanced out of the lower chamber.

The legislation would reform the National Environmental Policy Act, a 55-year-old law that requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental effects of major actions and decisions relevant to their departments, such as issuing permits and licenses for large projects.

Many have pointed to NEPA as the crux of permitting delays, saying the law acts as additional red tape, causes lengthy legal delays, and slows domestic infrastructure development.

“The core of permitting reform is in the SPEED Act,” Westerman told the Washington Examiner, referencing the proposed changes to NEPA.  

“So if we have actual permitting reform, the policies in the SPEED Act will be in that, whether they call it the SPEED Act or something else … if you don’t have that, you don’t have permitting reform,” he added. 

Wavering support

While many supporters of the bill were hopeful it would serve as a jumping-off point for Senate discussions, skepticism rose the week the legislation passed in the House after Westerman allowed a last-minute amendment from conservatives to be added.

The amendment would exempt agency decisions made after Trump was inaugurated but before the bill’s enactment from a provision that would prevent the executive office from revoking permits for specific projects. This would grant the Trump administration greater flexibility to continue revoking or pausing permits for renewable energy projects until the bill is signed.

One of the largest concerns among Democrats wary of supporting bipartisan reform is that the Trump administration will not fairly implement permitting reforms for clean energy projects.

Some clean energy advocates who previously supported the bill, including American Clean Power, pulled their endorsements after the amendment was added.

Momentum was further lost less than a week later, when the administration paused the leases for five under-construction offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Coast, several of which were set to complete construction and be fully operational in 2026. Democrats in the Senate, leading negotiations on permitting reform, swiftly paused discussions in response. 

Looking forward 

Three of these projects have since resumed construction after being granted preliminary injunctions in federal district courts.

Environment and Public Works Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) pointed to these court wins earlier this month as a short-term “remedy” for the industry, saying passing permitting reform would provide more certainty across the board for projects.

Discussions appear poised to restart in the Senate next week, with the Environment and Public Works Committee holding a hearing on the matter. 

But with the 2026 midterm elections on the horizon, some Democrats may be inclined to withhold their support for bipartisan legislation in hopes that the party can retake the House and leverage the majority to secure stronger protections for renewable energy projects.

Westerman criticized the idea of using permitting as an electoral pawn, describing the debated reforms to NEPA and the permitting process as a “necessity.” 

“It’s not something we should play around with and use for leverage,” he said. “Everybody in Congress really has something at stake with permit reform, especially when you look at it where it’s technology-neutral and project-neutral, and it gives anybody who wants to get a permit a fair shake at getting a permit.” 

If passed in the Senate, any permitting reform legislation will be sent back to the House for another vote before it can be signed into law. 

Westerman said he is confident that, if and when that legislation returns to the lower chamber, it will be passed with bipartisan support.

DEMOCRATS QUIT PERMITTING REFORM TALKS OVER TRUMP WIND CRACKDOWN

Until then, the Natural Resources Committee, under his leadership, will continue to assess ways to accelerate the permitting process by examining other environmental statutes, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and may send additional bills to the Senate.

“We created quite the smorgasbord for the Senate to choose from — plus they’ve got their own things they’re working on,” Westerman said. “So I could see how everything can kind of be put in the melting pot and come out as a permanent reform bill that gets enough votes.”