Senate permitting bill faces Nov. 9 test after midterms

A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to speed federal approval of energy and infrastructure projects faces its first test Nov. 9, six days after the midterm elections, its sponsors said.

The 417-page Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 would set a 150-day limit for lawsuits under the National Environmental Policy Act, the main U.S. environmental review law, and would give federal regulators more power to site interstate power lines, according to a Holland & Knight summary of the text released Sept. 30.

The bill is sponsored by Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah, and Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Capito chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and Lee chairs the Energy committee.

“This is a big thing. It’s monumental and it’s legacy-setting,” Capito said when the deal was announced, according to an Associated Press report posted on her website. Heinrich said the bill “will mean more energy on the grid, more good-paying jobs, and lower electricity costs for families and businesses.”

Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation, said the deal “appears to adopt a fossil fuel industry wish-list.” Critics also say it could weaken Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act protections and limit court review, the AP reported. The White House said the bill would lower energy and housing costs and create jobs.

The Holland & Knight summary says the bill would also extend the useful life of programmatic environmental documents from five years to 10, favour sending challenged approvals back to agencies rather than striking them down, and set a one-year decision deadline for some energy and natural resource authorizations. It would streamline certain pipeline work inside existing rights-of-way and limit state water-quality reviews of interstate pipelines and power lines to nine months. It also includes $150 million a year for Endangered Species Act funding from fiscal 2027 to 2031.

Data centres are a central driver. Sponsors say electricity demand is rising largely because of artificial intelligence, and the bill would require new data centres to pay for associated transmission costs, the AP reported.

The timing is set by the Senate calendar. The Senate held a brief pro forma session on Oct. 19 with no business, and the Senate Daily Press lists the next such sessions through Nov. 5. The chamber is scheduled to return Nov. 9 and vote at about 5:30 p.m. on cloture, the step that ends debate, on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, which the page identifies as the vehicle for a permitting bill.

Lee has said he expects approval in the lame-duck session after the Nov. 3 election, the AP reported. Democrats are negotiating a side agreement with the White House to ensure the administration does not hold up wind and solar permits, an issue Whitehouse called “unresolved,” according to the AP and law firm Apollo Counsel.

The House has not said it will take up the Senate text. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie issued a statement highlighting his own committee’s permitting work without endorsing the Senate bill, and Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California objected to its changes to the Endangered Species Act, according to Apollo Counsel.

For Canada, the stakes are in the plumbing. Canada sends oil, natural gas and electricity to the United States through pipelines and power lines, and the bill would change how U.S. regulators review interstate lines and pipelines. Neither the Holland & Knight summary nor the AP report says anything about cross-border permits, so any direct effect on Canadian projects would depend on the final text.

A separate pipeline dispute is already under way: Wisconsin issued a notice to Enbridge over its Line 5 reroute this month, which is a state matter and is not described as part of this bill. Higher energy costs are also feeding inflation on both sides of the border, as we reported on U.S. inflation reaching 3.7 per cent in September.

Next, the Senate is expected to release a manager’s amendment, a revised version of the bill, before the Nov. 9 floor vote, according to Apollo Counsel.

Via the Associated Press and Holland & Knight.

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