Washington, D.C. – Deputy Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Co-Chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley, and Paul Tonko, and the Chair of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Rep. Brad Schneider, released the following statement in response to the current status of permitting reform negotiations in Congress:
“The members of our respective caucuses hold diverse views of how Congress should improve the energy infrastructure permitting process; however, as leaders of these caucuses, we are unified in our belief that the current actions of the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are blocking us from engaging in good-faith, bipartisan permitting reform negotiations.
“Any serious permitting reform package must address—as a threshold matter—the Trump Administration’s active undermining of America’s clean energy industry by using every tool it can find to slow or block projects. The Administration regularly does not follow existing law, including revoking duly issued permits, rescinding previously awarded grants, and issuing stop-work orders on projects well under construction. Over the past 10 months, we have heard outcries over the Administration’s actions from state governments, businesses, and workers responsible for building critical clean energy projects to address growing electricity demand while improving the reliability and affordability of our energy system, but our Republican colleagues in Congress have remained largely silent in the face of the Trump Administration’s abuses.
“Ensuring that clean energy projects are treated fairly and can move forward where appropriate is the prerequisite for serious, practical negotiations on a reform package capable of meeting the nation’s energy needs. Additionally, to be comfortable with any sort of agreement, we need to be able to trust that this Administration is going to follow the law that we write.
“We are prepared to engage in and support good-faith negotiations, but meaningful negotiations require a shared, bipartisan commitment to enabling the deployment of clean-energy resources that are currently being targeted by the Trump Administration. The legislation must affirmatively end the scorched-earth attacks on clean energy, restore permitting integrity for projects that have been unfairly targeted, and ensure fairness and neutrality going forward. Without that foundation, permitting reform cannot succeed in the end goal of delivering affordable and reliable energy that Americans expect.”
