By Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Republicans and Democrats on the Senate environment committee said on Wednesday that U.S. infrastructure project developers need assurances that fully approved projects will not be cancelled or stalled due to shifting political priorities.
The statements from Republican senators were an apparent criticism of President Donald Trump’s efforts to stymie renewable energy development, particularly his administration’s halt on offshore wind projects that are fully permitted.
The lawmakers spoke at a hearing about federal environmental review and permitting processes, which Congress has pledged to reform.
“I feel strongly that no project should have to worry that it will be halted at the whim of an administration,” Senator John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, said at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. “We saw it in 2021 with Keystone XL Pipeline and we see it today with wind projects across the country.”
Another Republican, Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, also drew parallels between the Biden administration’s Keystone oil pipeline cancellation and Trump’s efforts to slow renewable energy.
“What we do need is some certainty,” Lummis said.
Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said permitting legislation should be technology neutral.
“Let’s remove the politics from permitting once and for all,” she said.
Trump has used his second term to hinder the expansion of clean energy technologies that were a cornerstone of former President Joe Biden’s climate and energy agendas.
The House of Representatives passed legislation in December to streamline environmental reviews and speed permitting for large energy infrastructure projects, data centers and factories, which many lawmakers view as important to meeting rising U.S. power demand.
The legislation now requires approval from the Senate, but some Democratic lawmakers oppose an amendment made to the bill that would preserve Trump’s ability to block permitted offshore wind farms.
Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said he and some other Senate Democrats cannot advance permitting reform unless Trump and his cabinet secretaries level the playing field for renewable energy.
“We can add jobs and electrons, reduce emissions and waste, but it makes no sense to pass a bipartisan permitting reform that will be illegally butchered by a lawless executive branch, vindictively, irrationally and dishonestly,” Whitehouse said.
The Trump administration has argued renewables are expensive and less reliable than fossil fuels, and also says offshore wind farms can pose a national security threat by interfering with radar systems.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Nichola Groom; Editing by Nia Williams)
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