The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today will hold a closely watched hearing on speeding up the permitting process for energy projects.
Committee Chair Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) plans to lay out his priorities for a permitting deal that would benefit clean-energy projects, according to a copy of his prepared remarks shared with The Climate 202.
“I know we can build infrastructure and create economic opportunity while also protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink and the communities we call home from pollution,” Carper plans to say.
He will add that a bipartisan permitting package should accomplish the following goals:
Lower greenhouse gas emissions and preserve the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.
Encourage community engagement in project development, especially in disadvantaged communities.
Provide clean-energy businesses with “certainty and predictability.”
In her opening remarks, ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) plans to highlight the issues with the nation’s current permitting process, according to her office.
“The problems with the process don’t just impact project sponsors, they harm American workers and consumers with forgone jobs, higher energy prices, traffic congestion, more pollution and many other missed opportunities that result from the failure to modernize infrastructure and energy systems,” the senator plans to say.