Top permitting-reform senators meeting as talks thaw: API chief

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito and top Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse are meeting to discuss reforming the federal energy permitting process, Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, told CNBC.

“We have both Republicans in the United States Senate… Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. [are] The people responsible for authorizing the reform are finally meeting again this year to discuss how to achieve it, Somers told CNBC.

A person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details, said they would “talk about furlough a lot this week as negotiations restart” but was not aware of any set meeting times. The person noted that committee staff deliberates regularly.

Capito, R.W.V. and Whitehouse, D.R.I., have been speaking regularly since Democrats publicly announced a détente on allowing negotiations. Democrats withdrew from talks last year after the Trump administration ordered a halt to work on a number of fully permitted offshore wind projects, but announced last week they would resume talks following “recent developments.” [that] “These are indicative of a positive aspect of the Trump administration.”

Leave reform has been a long-running saga on Capitol Hill. Republicans have long wanted to speed up permitting to build energy infrastructure and blunt environmental protection laws. Democrats want to make it easier to implement renewable energy projects. A bipartisan compromise collapsed at the end of the last Congress.

Capito declined to comment through a spokesman. Whitehouse did not respond to a request for comment.

The term “enabling reform” has become a catchall phrase for a series of bills and proposals that would cut red tape to speed up the construction of energy infrastructure. Any deal would likely include accelerated approvals for both oil and gas and renewables, as well as changes to longstanding environmental laws.

Meanwhile, the tech industry wants to allow reforms to accelerate the generation of energy that fuels power-hungry data centers. As energy costs skyrocket due to the strain of data centers, building more energy capacity in the U.S. has become a key priority for lawmakers hoping to combat affordability.

Last year, the House passed a consent bill called the SPEED Act to blunt the National Environmental Policy Act. The Senate deliberates separately from the House.

Somers said the restarted negotiations were indicative of a potential breakthrough on furlough this year.

“We actually have a lot of confidence that we can achieve this this year, because I believe it’s a political imperative for politicians to finally get this done because energy prices are rising, and the only thing they can do to bring prices down again is to get the permits right in this country,” he said. “I actually think they’re very close to a deal.”