CICE Applauds Bipartisan Senate Agreement on Permitting Reform
October 2, 2026 – Earlier this week, Senate negotiators introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, a broad permitting reform package aimed at improving federal review and permitting for energy and infrastructure projects. Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) applauds both the bipartisan nature of the agreement and the agreement itself.
"Energy demand is rising, and businesses and communities need reliable, affordable power to keep pace. Meeting that demand will require building more generation and the infrastructure needed to deliver it. Federal permitting should not pick winners and losers among energy technologies. This bipartisan agreement is an important step in that direction,” stated Ryan Evans, CICE Executive Director.
The bill seeks to create greater certainty for permitted projects by establishing protections against any administration singling out and improperly delaying or denying permits for any class of energy projects. This helps ensure that all forms of energy generation are subject to a fair and consistent permitting process, regardless of which administration is in office. This provision, which is still a subject of negotiation, is of critical importance as we seek to meet soaring electricity demand due to economic growth across the country. A fair and predictable permitting process will help all technologies––including wind and solar, which have driven the majority of recent capacity growth––compete on their merits.
Other positive highlights of the bill include:
Requiring data centers to pay for all of their associated transmission costs, preventing costs from being passed on to other ratepayers.
Strengthening the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) role in regional and interstate transmission permitting and planning. These large-scale transmission projects are frequently the subject of disagreements between states or regional grid operators. Strengthening FERC’s role can help streamline the process and allow regionally important projects to move forward faster. Large-scale regional transmission lines are critical in getting more electrons on the grid, relieving congestion on existing lines, and powering future economic growth.
Requiring public utilities to use grid-enhancing technologies, allowing grid managers to achieve greater efficiency and capacity from transmission infrastructure.
Allowing certain distributed energy resources and virtual power plants to participate in wholesale electricity markets, again allowing more electrons to flow to the grid in the most affordable manner.
Requiring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to complete geothermal drilling permits within 60 days.
Setting a two-year deadline for Environmental Impact Statement reviews and a one-year deadline for Environmental Assessment reviews.
Setting a 150-day deadline for certain legal challenges to a project under the Clean Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), while also limiting who can bring a legal challenge to people or groups that participated in the relevant comment period or Tribal consultation process.
“CICE believes energy projects should have the opportunity to compete on their merits under fair and consistent rules. We applaud the bipartisan work behind this agreement and will continue to follow the provisions that provide greater certainty and place all forms of generation on a level playing field,” added Evans.
Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) is a nationwide network of chambers of commerce and economic development organizations advancing the clean energy economy.