Senate Energy Bill Would Fine Any President Who Blocks A Whole Class Of Energy Projects

A bipartisan Senate energy bill would bar any administration from blocking permits for an entire class of energy projects, such as solar or wind.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act would bar any administration from stalling or denying permits for an entire category of energy projects, according to a fact sheet from its sponsor Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich’s office.

That means no administration could block all solar, wind or other classes of energy project permits “without facing legal action and fines,” the fact sheet says.

Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a Sept. 30 interview that the bill’s expedited judicial review provisions are “the most important part” of it.

Under the legislation, opponents would have 150 days to file a lawsuit challenging a permitted project, Cramer said.

“Right now, it’s six years. Think of that,” he said.

“Lawfare works best with more litigants, and if everybody’s allowed to be a plaintiff, guess what? You don’t even have to come close to being successful to screw the whole thing up,” Cramer added.

Heinrich introduced the bill Wednesday with Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, according to a release from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Thomas Hochman, a nonresident senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, said in a statement to the DCNF that the permitting certainty provisions are novel and that “their effectiveness will depend partly on how courts interpret and enforce them.”