US senators agree on permitting bill — CNBC

US senators have reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill to simplify procedures for obtaining permits to build energy and other critical infrastructure. As CNBC reports, the deal was reached ahead of the Senate recess until the November midterm elections.

Bipartisan bill

The agreement was reached by Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich, and Republican Senator Mike Lee. The bill is called the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.

The initiative is aimed at simplifying the complex system of federal approval procedures, which can take years. The bill is intended to speed up the implementation of energy projects and the construction of other critical infrastructure. Delays in obtaining permits are a problem for the United States, which seeks to expand generating capacity, including because of the needs of data centers that consume significant amounts of electricity.

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Costs for data centers

The bill also stipulates that data center developers will independently pay for electricity transmission costs. The initiative could facilitate the implementation of both traditional fossil fuel energy projects and clean energy projects, which also face delays in permitting procedures.

Whitehouse said that if adopted, the bill should provide the grid with clean and affordable energy and require data centers to pay their share of the costs. Capito called the current federal environmental review and permitting procedures outdated and said they hold back energy reliability, jobs, infrastructure modernization, and economic growth.

Vote after the elections

The bill is expected to become one of the Senate's priorities during the session after the November 3 elections. Capito said the negotiators expect to bring it to a first vote after senators return to Washington. Senator Chris Coons also named permitting reform and government funding as the main issues for the Senate after the recess.