House Problem Solvers Caucus pushes permitting plan to boost renewables and fossil fuels

PERMITTING PROBLEM SOLVED? Key House committee chairs seem interested in a new bipartisan permitting proposal from moderates of the Problem Solvers Caucus that includes measures to speed the buildout of transmission lines, pipelines, and energy-generating projects of all types.

“I want to do a bipartisan broad permitting reform bill,” Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told our Josh Siegel on Thursday. Guthrie, whose committee oversees the power grid, said he planned to review the proposal.

“I am anxious to look at it and see where we can work together,” Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) told Josh. “It all sounds positive to me.” Westerman is looking to soon mark up bipartisan legislation to overhaul NEPA that overlaps with aspects of the Problem Solvers’ plan.

At a press conference Thursday, the lead authors of the permitting plan — Reps. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) and Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) as well as caucus co-chairs Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi(D-N.Y.) — said they hoped their ideas could be combined into a comprehensive package for floor consideration.

But Peters and Suozzi cautioned that the effort won’t be successful if the Trump administration keeps holding up solar and wind permits.

Fitzpatrick said the group planned to discuss their concerns with the Trump administration, even as he argued Congress should assert itself on permitting regardless of what the executive branch does.

"I hope they're willing to have conversations with all of us," he said. "But our job is to pass smart policy that our constituents asked us to do, to lower energy costs and to clean up our environment.”