Analysis by Energy Workforce President Tim Tarpley
Today, the House Natural Resources Committee is beginning the markup of the SPEED Act introduced by Chairman Westerman (R-AR) and Scott Peters (R-CA). This markup is the first step in what may be a long process to get permitting reform across the finish line. The vote is expected to be bipartisan, which is key to this legislation’s long-term prospects. While the House margins are tight and passage could occur along partisan lines, the Senate will be a different story. The package will need at least 60 votes to pass.
So what is next? Could we actually see permitting reform pass this year or early next year? Could the white whale of policy actually happen? Well, first, we must keep things in context. The bad news is that we are coming off a huge partisan fight over government funding, during which the House was shut down for over a month with little negotiation. Secondly, the knives are out with the Epstein crisis taking center stage, can permitting reform find a wicket to get done before the midterms?
The good news is that there is a growing bipartisan recognition that permitting reform is necessary. Congress can be surprisingly quick to move in instances where there is a crisis. Electricity rates are rising at a dramatic rate in many jurisdictions, and many analysts feel that we could be one storm or failure away from massive grid failures that put lives at risk in much the same way that winter storm Yuri did.
Secondly, Secretary Wright and many others feel that we need at least 100 GW of firm power generation added to the grid over the next 5 years to keep up with growing data center demand. Let’s be honest, no way is happening without permitting reform; we couldn’t even move the gas necessary to support that kind of build-out.
So, I do see an opening here to get something done. Even though the politics are rough right now, I think the combination of the national security issues related to the data center buildout and the affordability political pressures may create a perfect storm. It will be up to us in the industry to continue to push the urgency of this issue to all policymakers. It will take a concerted effort by all segments of the energy space in order to make this happen. EWTC will focus on permitting reform as one of our key topics for our 2026 DC Fly-In. For more information or to sign up for this event, click here.
Tim Tarpley, Energy Workforce President, analyzes federal policy for the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. Click here to subscribe to the Energy Workforce newsletter, which highlights sector-specific issues, best practices, activities and more.
