This afternoon, the House voted 221-196 to pass the SWACCA-supported Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) to revise permitting processes and reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), with 11 Democrats supporting final passage and 1 Republican voting against. SWACCA has been advocating in favor of federal permitting reform dating back to the fall when the Government Affairs Committee established it as a new priority issue for SWACCA’s public policy advocacy. Ahead of the vote this week, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) highlighted the updated letter of support that SWACCA sent to House leadership before the House Rules Committee marked up the bill earlier this week.
Prior to the final vote, a bipartisan group of members voted down the three Republican amendments: (1) a proposal to clarify that “direct harm” for purposes of a NEPA review does not include emotional, aesthetic, or recreational harm unaccompanied by actual physical or property harm; (2) a proposal providing that NEPA review only applies to environmental impacts that the lead agency or cooperating federal agencies have the legal authority to regulate; and (3) a proposal further defining what significant effects trigger an Environmental Impact Statement. The rule for consideration of the bill deemed as passed an amendment from House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) specifying that nothing in the bill would apply to any agency action taken during the period from President Trump’s inauguration to the enactment of the bill. That includes any of the Trump Administration’s motions to voluntarily remand a federal authorization, or any action to otherwise reopen or reconsider any authorization that was previously issued, such as actions taken against renewable energy projects this year. Following news of the adoption of the Harris amendment, the American Clean Power Association withdrew its support for the bill, calling the amendment a “poison pill” that “allows the Trump Administration to continue to discriminate against clean energy technologies.”