What happened
A bipartisan group of senators introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, a 417-page bill aimed at reforming the federal permitting process to make it easier to build energy infrastructure projects in the United States.
The bill, which covers a wide range of topics, includes reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Key provisions of the bill include setting a 150-day deadline for legally challenging environmental reviews, narrowing the circumstances that trigger an environmental review, and limiting states' ability to block federally permitted projects.
The bill also aims to modernize the federal permitting system by issuing new data standards and automated systems, and establishing an online permitting database.
Additionally, the bill includes provisions to make it easier to construct and upgrade transmission infrastructure, and to require data centers to pay for the energy and transmission infrastructure needed for their operations.
The Senate plans to vote on the bill after the November midterm elections, and it will then go to the House, where tensions are already brewing among Democrats.
