House passes permit reform bill Big Tech wants
Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology Inc., speaks during an interview with CNBC at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 26, 2024 in New York City, United States.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill aimed at making it easier to obtain federal permits to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence projects.
The bill, known as the SPEED Act, supports Big Tech giants like OpenAI. Micron And Microsoft
The bill cleared the House by a vote of 221 to 196, overcoming a conservative revolt that nearly sank the legislation in a procedural vote earlier this week.
The bill now goes to the Senate; here it will likely be part of a broader debate about allowing reforms.
Proponents of the SPEED Act argue that it is critical to help the United States surpass China and other global rivals in the race for AI dominance.
The bill’s sponsor and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, R-Ark. “The electricity we will need to power AI computing for civilian and military use is a national necessity,” said Representative Bruce Westerman.
The SPEED Act would reform the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires federal reviews for projects that will impact the environment.
Timelines for NEPA reviews will be tightened and the statute of limitations for NEPA cases will be reduced to 150 days from the current six years.
Permitting reform has gained bipartisan support recently, with clean energy projects backed by Democrats falling into the trap of permitting delays.
As artificial intelligence becomes a key industry and power-hungry data centers put increasing pressure on the electric grid, there is pressure on Congress to act.
Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, the bill’s Democratic co-sponsor, said the SPEED Act would allow the United States to be “nimble enough to build what we need, when we need it.”
But most Democrats opposed the SPEED Act and demanded that any permitting bill would reverse President Donald Trump’s moves to stifle renewable energy sources such as offshore wind.
Democratic resistance was further intensified when GOP leadership included language that would exempt Trump’s efforts to exempt renewable energy sources from provisions in the SPEED Act that would limit the White House’s ability to arbitrarily withdraw permits it doesn’t like.
The amendment was added following a deadlock in the House during a procedural vote in which conservatives opposed to renewable energy demanded concessions for their vote.
“This provision codifies a broken permitting status quo,” said Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., who supports permitting reform but opposes the SPEED Act.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to create a bipartisan product that can become law.”
