Lawmakers see need for ‘common language’ on energy permitting reform

Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said Wednesday both Congress and the public need to be educated on clean energy and energy permitting reform as the issues become ever-more pressing.

Curtis cited the intricacies of energy permitting as an obstacle to enacting reform on this issue during The Hill’s “Clean Energy Permitting Reform: The Plan Ahead” event sponsored by Advanced Energy United.

“To some, its transmissions. To some, its pipelines, it’s all of these different things,” Curtis said, adding that “getting almost a common language that we all understand” will help the House pass legislation on energy permitting.  

Amendments made to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the recent debt ceiling agreement made some changes to the energy permitting process, though some members are not yet satisfied.

While Republican and centrist Democrats wanted the debt agreement to make energy permitting a faster process, other Democratic members were against the permitting measures because of their potential to fast track fossil fuel projects.  

Hickenlooper, a moderate Democrat on the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, shared the sense of urgency to accelerate these procedures.  

“We can’t spend the same amount of time and energy on processes when the climate is changing so rapidly,” Hickenlooper told The Hill’s Editor in Chief Bob Cusack.  

“I haven’t given up my hope for this Congress right now,” Curtis said about his push to pass energy reform. “There are some great ideas out there, they have merit.” 

Another area that the Republican and Democrat seem to agree on is making clean energy and permitting more digestible.  

Curtis, vice chair of the House’s Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee, said more informed members could help guide others as Congress debates permitting reform. 

“I don’t think every member has to understand every issue,” he said. “We don’t all need to be perfect, but you need credibility and the people that you’re looking to need credibility.”

Hickenlooper also emphasized the need to raise awareness around the reality of clean energy. He recalled an instance of GOP anger about Mercedes potentially selling only electric vehicles.  

His Republican counterparts saw the company’s move as a betrayal to their shareholders, but Hickenlooper insisted that “we’re not betraying anybody,” and it was instead an example of much-needed forward thinking. 

“This is happening, it’s going to happen, and how do we do it in such a way that we are efficient and not wasting money by having to rush around doing things at the last minute,” he said about the U.S.’s impending move to clean energy.