Politics

Senate Permitting Deal Could Give Opponents Just 150 Days To Sue Over Energy Projects Instead Of Six Years

Sadrulk/Wikimedia Commons

Senate negotiators said Monday they reached a permitting deal that could give opponents of energy projects 150 days to sue instead of six years.

Negotiators aim to release the text this week, though a vote is unlikely before the Senate breaks prior to the midterm elections. A version Republicans shared with stakeholders Friday sets a 150-day deadline for lawsuits under two federal laws that govern environmental and historic reviews of major projects, Politico reported Monday.

The bill would need to pass the Senate and the House and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to review the environmental effects of proposed projects, and a completed review can currently face a legal challenge for up to six years under the default deadline in federal law, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“We have reached a deal on text,” an aide to Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told Politico.

Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the goal is to release details of the agreement before the end of the week, according to the outlet. She added that lawmakers “are running out of time” before the recess.

Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the committee’s top Democrat, said Democrats still want clarity on how the Trump administration would handle wind and solar approvals.

“[We need] more clarity from the Trump administration on what their return to regular order means,” Whitehouse told Politico.

The offices of Capito, Heinrich, Whitehouse and Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the fourth lead negotiator, did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Trump offered to ease his administration’s holdup of wind and solar projects to win Democratic support for a deal, Politico noted.

The offer would allow about 30 of roughly 300 wind projects awaiting Pentagon clearance to move forward, Bloomberg reported Sept. 23, citing a person familiar with the talks.

The Republican version would also bar the executive branch from revoking permits except in limited cases and narrow when states can block projects under the Clean Water Act, according to Politico.

The bill is also expected to ease the siting of interstate power lines and end the Energy Department’s role as a national transmission planner. Customers would pay for a new line only if they benefit from it, the outlet added.

Lawsuits under NEPA delayed energy projects by an average of 3.9 years from 2013 to 2022, even though federal agencies won 71% of those cases, according to a Breakthrough Institute review of appeals court decisions.

Nongovernmental organizations filed 74 percent of the energy cases, and just 10 organizations accounted for 48 percent of them, the Berkeley, California-based think tank found.

The House passed a 150-day limit in December 2025 as part of the SPEED Act from Republican Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman and Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus opposed that bill, arguing the 150-day window was “unreasonably short.”

Republican South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Senate majority leader, said Sept. 24 that Republicans and the White House had “closed the deal” on legislation that “incorporated essentially all” of Democrats’ asks, Roll Call reported.

The Senate is not scheduled to return until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, according to Politico.