Big Tech faces key House vote on reforming permit process

Like Big Tech heavy hitters OpenAI, MetaAnd Microsoft We are pressing Congress to advance legislation to reform the process for obtaining federal permits for projects to build AI infrastructure in the United States.

Supporters bill, SPEED ActThis, he argues, is key to helping the United States surpass China and other global rivals in artificial intelligence. The bill faces a key procedural vote on Tuesday House of Representatives.

“A more efficient and predictable permitting process is essential for companies like OpenAI investing in data centers, networking and supporting infrastructure in the United States,” Chan Park, OpenAI’s head of U.S. and Canada policy and partnerships, wrote. a letter We support the bill.

The SPEED Act would blunt the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires federal review for projects that could impact the environment before permits are issued.

For years, efforts to reform NEPA were blocked by Democrats who sided with environmental advocates against Republican lawmakers aligned with business interests.

But lately, as artificial intelligence is seen as an increasingly important sector, support for streamlining the permitting process has increased among Democrats.

Pressure on Congress has also increased as China outpaces the United States in building AI infrastructure and energy-hungry AI data centers put pressure on an aging power grid.

“We’ve made it completely difficult to build big things in this country, and if we don’t reform that, that will be a powerful gift to China,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, a member of the Communist Party of China’s House Select Committee, said in an interview with CNBC.

“Without meaningful reform of NEPA, it will be difficult to get where we need to go,” Johnson said.

In a sign of bipartisan support for reform efforts, the SPEED Act was introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark. and was co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine.

The Data Center Coalition, a group representing major technology companies building data centers, said “comprehensive permitting reform is an imperative to win the AI ​​race, grow the U.S. economy, and secure America’s continued global leadership.”

“Unfortunately, transmission and generation restrictions across the country constrain economic growth, including the development of the U.S. data center industry,” said Cy McNeill, the group’s director of federal relations.

McNeill said the industry is “trying to continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars every year in the United States to build America’s digital infrastructure.”

The SPEED Act would tighten the timelines for federal agencies to conduct a review under NEPA and limit the law’s ability to block a project.

The bill also reduces the current six-year statute of limitations for appealing a permit decision to 150 days. Supporters say the reform would reduce the number of lawsuits that could stall projects for years.

“Anyone who wants to stop something under NEPA has the upper hand,” Westerman, the bill’s co-sponsor, said in an interview.

“Data centers use a lot of energy, and we need to build more energy infrastructure, more energy generating capacity, and the barrier to doing that is permitting these projects,” Westerman said.

He warned that data centers could get mired in NEPA lawsuits if they receive federal funding for semiconductor manufacturing projects, such as money from CHIPS and the Science Act.

Semiconductor giant Micron, a letterHe said the SPEED Act “will accelerate the implementation of economic development investments like Micron’s and ensure that every federal dollar is used efficiently and effectively.”

Despite bipartisan agreement on the need to reform the permitting process, the SPEED Act faces obstacles on Capitol Hill.

The ultra-conservative House Republican Freedom Caucus opposes the amendment Golden added to the bill that would limit the president’s authority to revoke permits for energy projects he doesn’t like.

President Donald Trump did just that with his offshore wind permits this year.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., threatened to shelve the bill before it reaches the House if Golden’s amendment remains in the bill.

“The gold amendment needs to be repealed, and that is the bare minimum,” Harris said. “If it’s there, this rule will not be successful.”

It’s unclear whether enough Democrats would support the SPEED Act to counteract the influence of any opposition from Freedom Caucus members.

Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, and the party leadership can afford to lose no more than three votes from the GOP to pass legislation without Democratic support.

At the same time, some Democrats in the House want more concessions from Golden’s amendment to ensure clean energy projects canceled by Trump continue.

“I predict there will be a handful of Democrats willing to vote for it in its current version, as it is in the committee, but certainly not a critical mass,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I.

Signaling interest in reforming the permitting process, Magaziner said, “Almost every Democrat who is open to permitting reform is going to need some assurance that clean energy will be a part of it.”

Other Democrats think the bill goes too far in undermining the environment.

“This is standard fare on the fossil fuel industry’s wish list,” said House Natural Resources Committee Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the panel’s top Democrat.

Even if the House passes the bill, it would be just the first piece of a larger package planned to reform additional parts of the complex federal permitting apparatus. Lawmakers expect obstacles to the construction of interstate energy transmission projects to be removed.

The Senate has yet to introduce its own bill to authorize the reform, but discussions on such a measure are ongoing behind closed doors.

Democrats will have more leverage in the Senate over such legislation because a permissive reform bill would need 60 votes to break the filibuster. There are only 53 Republican senators.

“I think both of our teams are trying to figure out what’s important to the two different groups on the committee, and hopefully we’ll be able to exchange papers with the Chairman. [Mike] Lee is very close,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat. last Semaphore activity.

Lee, R-Utah, is the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Heinrich is the ranking member.

— CNBC’s Emily Wilkins contributed to this report.