Senators on Permitting Reform: Time to Put Away Swords

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Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

There is growing support in the U.S. Senate, and among a wide range of stakeholder groups, for federal permitting reform that is bipartisan and technology-neutral.

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Senate Hearing Takes A Fresh Tone on Permitting Reform

Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) are trying to craft legislation to streamline the federal permitting process. Last December, the House of Representatives passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776), which also is aimed at updating the federal permitting process and expediting the construction of energy infrastructure. For more on the House measure, see December 31, 2025, article - SPEED Act Seeks to Streamline Permitting of Energy Assets. As yet, no companion bill has emerged in the Senate. The EPW panel has primary jurisdiction on permitting in the Senate.

A law enacted by Congress would have stronger legal standing than a presidential executive order or an executive-branch agency rulemaking, legal experts have said. The second Trump administration has taken a number of actions shorten the amount of time it takes to secure federal permits to construct infrastructure, whether related to energy or not. For more on that, see January 15, 2026, article - Is CEQ Rule the End of 'Regulatory Reign of Terror' or the Start of Legal Chaos? and January 15, 2026, article - EPA Seeks to Limit States', Tribes' Use of Clean Water Act to Stop Projects.

The closely divided Senate EPW committee, in a closely split Senate, has worked for over a year to craft durable, comprehensive federal permitting reform that unduly favors neither traditional forms of energy, such as oil, gas and coal, nor non-traditional types of energy such as solar and wind. There is growing recognition that the country's economic future rests on its ability to permit and construct energy infrastructure of all kinds. "All of the above" appears to be back in vogue among some on Capitol Hill.

It has not been an easy journey. During 2025, senators whose committees have primary jurisdiction on permitting (EPW) and energy (the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), met regularly to try to close the gaps between Republicans and Democrats on permitting reform, a Senate source told Industrial Info. The so-called "Four Corners" group was composed of Republican chairs of EPW and ENR and the senior Democrats on those panels.

That collaboration gave a different tone to the January 28 EPW hearing compared to a hearing that the panel held February 19, 2025, where there was rhetorical support for a bipartisan approach to permitting reform, but scant mention that that reform should be "fuel neutral," "technology neutral" or "project neutral." Those terms are code words for consistently using the same process to assess all proposed infrastructure projects, whether traditional projects like oil and gas pipelines or non-traditional ones such as solar energy.

"We're looking for a permitting process with the same degree of fairness," the Senate source said in an interview.

Some hard feelings remain among Democratic members of EPW, but "technology neutral" is the new watchword on permitting reform. The Biblical passage to put away your swords appears to be gaining adherents inside the Washington Beltway.

In the January 28 hearing, EPW Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), said the panel is trying to draft permitting-reform legislation that "must be bipartisan to be successful and durable. This legislation must be project neutral."

Costs of a Broken Permitting System

The EPW hearing featured testimony from the business, labor, renewable energy and oil and gas communities.

BechtelChief Executive Officer Brendan Bechtel testified in his capacity as chair of the Business Roundtable Smart Regulation Committee. The opportunity cost of the current broken permitting system "is enormous," he said. He cited a July 2025 study by McKinsey & Company estimating it takes approximately four to five years for the average investment dollar to go through the federal permitting process. "This means that, currently, as much as $1.5 trillion in potential investments are awaiting required federal permits across eight key sectors," Bechtel said.

"This is not about politics--it's about paychecks," another witness, Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), told the EPW panel last week. "For LIUNA members, delays mean another day without a paycheck, another day without earning healthcare eligibility, another day without a pension credit."

LIUNA, which has over 530,000 members, represents craft laborers that build energy projects of all kinds, as well as roads, airports and sports arenas, Booker said.

Dems: Trump Admin Holds the Fate of Permitting Reform in its Hands

While expressing support for bipartisan, technology-neutral permitting reform, the EPW's Democratic members said efforts to pass legislation would be a waste of time unless the Trump administration stops blocking permits for renewable energy.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), the panel's senior Democratic member, used his opening remarks to blast a series of moves the Trump administration has taken to impede renewable energy development.

"The responsibility for resuscitating permitting reform rests now upon the executive branch, upon credible confidence that (its permitting interference) nonsense will stop," he said. While slamming the GOP president, Whitehouse made it clear his fight was not with EPW Chair Senator Capito, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) or Senate Majority Whip John Barasso (R-Wyoming).

"This is not Democrat versus Republican. This is legislative versus executive, an executive that won't honor its constitutional duty to faithfully execute the law. There is a trust problem with the administration's behavior that would need to be solved."

Whitehouse said that the "Four Corners" group supporting permitting reform stopped meeting in December in protest over the president's actions.

Key Takeaways

• The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing January 28 to hear testimony on the need for a bipartisan, technology-neutral effort to reform the federal permitting process for all types of infrastructure projects, but especially for energy projects.
• That hearing contained explicit calls from senators and witnesses for reforming the permitting process in ways that are technology-neutral, project-neutral and fuel-neutral.
• Permitting reform has tended to be a partisan affair, but the January 28 hearing appeared to signal that Democrats and Republicans agreed it was time to stop fighting and start working together to reform a system all sides agree is broken.

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About IIR News Intelligence
IIR News Intelligence is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).