Senate inches closer to US infrastructure permitting reform bill

By Valerie Volcovici and Richard ‌Cowan

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - ​The US ​Senate is nearing a deal to reform laws to speed up permitting of large infrastructure projects after the White House compromised on how renewable ‌energy is treated, though a vote is uncertain before the midterm elections, ⁠a top Senate Democrat said on Thursday.

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the environment committee, and fellow ‌Democrat Martin Heinrich have negotiated ‌permitting legislation with Republican counterparts for months, after the talks had been cut off in December when President Donald Trump halted five near-complete offshore East Coast wind farms.

Whitehouse ​said the Trump administration has given Democrats assurances for improvements in how wind and solar energy projects would be handled in the bill.

"I appreciate very much what the ⁠Trump administration has done to move in this direction," he told reporters on Thursday.

"Now it's just a question of proper, ​ordinary Senate procedure playing out," and "more clarity from (the) executive branch on what they mean" on their promises for wind and solar, he ​said.

The US House of Representatives, which has not passed ‌the permitting bill, is scheduled to be in recess until after the November midterm elections.

Whitehouse said the broad parameters that have been agreed ⁠would be put into legislative language in coming "days or hours" so that other lawmakers, industry and environmental groups can review it.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the administration "is actively working to pass ⁠historic permitting reform to help improve energy infrastructure and lower costs."

In his second term as president, Trump ​has hindered the expansion of clean energy technologies that were a cornerstone of former President Joe Biden's climate policy.

Democrats had said they were willing to reform bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy ‌Act and the Clean Water Act, which Republicans say cause lengthy delays for major projects.

Republicans have faced demands from Democrats to accelerate ‌the construction of modern transmission lines that can move electricity from intermittent sources like wind and ⁠solar.

Major industry trade groups representing electric ‌utilities, renewable energy companies and ​the oil and gas sector have urged lawmakers to pass bipartisan reform of permitting this year.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Timothy Gardner and ‌Jonathan Spicer)

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