Why the SPEED Act may slow down after passing the House

“When you consider the importance of the issue, and that it’s hard to get anything ambitious through Congress, it’s very exciting that we have a 20% to 30% chance, maybe, of getting a significant permitting and transmission package through,” said Devin Hartman, director of energy and environmental policy at the R Street Institute, a free market-oriented think tank.

“That’s an oddly exciting probability range,” he added…

Hartman, of R Street, said the White House may not be motivated to support permitting reform.

“The White House is really confident that the permitting reforms it wants most — except for the Clean Air Act — it can pursue through executive actions,” Hartman said. “And they’re confident they can do a lot of this stuff durably because of recent court decisions — in light of not just the Seven Counties NEPA case, but also Loper Bright.” 

Those court decisions limited the scope of NEPA analysis and reduced the deference courts should give federal agencies.