While we're all tracking next week's midterm elections and what they mean for major energy policy, there's expected to be major movement on one major piece of legislation either way in the Lame Duck Period Our Molly Glick dives headfirst into the permitting reform debate expected to come in the next few weeks
Will BAAJA blast off—or will the long-awaited permitting bill fail to launch? For energy wonks, this year’s lame duck session will be anything but lame. Time is ticking for Congress to seal the fate of one of the country’s most consequential energy bills in years: the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). If BAAJA fails to pass the Senate and House after the midterms—and before the next session kicks off in January—the historic deal will end up dead in the water. The beefy bill: This 417-page piece of legislation (unveiled in the Senate last month) aims to fast-track federal permitting for generation, transmission, and other key infrastructure projects. BAAJA has drawn praise from across the energy industry as a grid buildout gamechanger—but not all utility pros are on board. The power sector takeaway: BAAJA shifts more control over transmission permitting to the federal level, Craig W. Heilman, COO of energy regulation analytics firm Arbo, told us. BAAJA’s odds: “I am optimistic that this bill passes the Senate, somehow passes the House, and gets signed by the President before the end of this year,” said Xan Fishman, executive VP of energy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “But it’s not a sure thing.” The hurdle: BAAJA has run into resistance in both Congressional chambers. Prominent Senate Dems want to see the White House halt its clean energy attacks before they vote for the bill. And some House members—most notably Jared Huffman (D-CA)—have opposed BAAJA, claiming it could restrict public input, encourage environmental harms, and accelerate data center expansion. The stakes: Politics move slowly—but grid demand sure doesn’t. 📈 If BAAJA falls flat, it’s unlikely that officials can pull off another massive permitting deal over the next few years, Heilman said. “It’s hard for Congress to act in a bipartisan way in this era—there was an awful lot of work that was done to create this bill,” he told us.
