CEI - Competitive Enterprise Institute

12/13/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/13/2024 16:09

CEI leads coalition urging legislators to address permitting reform in the 119th Congress

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The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and 25 free market and conservative groups sent a letter to Congress urging Senators and Representatives to wait until the 119th Congress to address permitting reform rather than rushing it in the lame duck session.

The groups write:

The undersigned organizations strongly believe that our nation needs across-the-board federal permitting reform. This requires amending the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as well as the many environmental statutes with permitting requirements, such as the Clean Water Act.

We write this letter though to strongly urge you to address permitting reform next year, not in the lame duck. Recent reports of permitting and transmission legislation gaining momentum this year are concerning.

…

The transmission policies in bills such as the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (S. 4753) would create these problems, as well as increase the federal role over transmission policy and hurt consumers. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has warned that the bill in its current form "would greatly expand federal control over co-ops, subjecting them to unacceptable regulation and driving up costs for consumers."

Republicans should be trying to dismantle the Green New Deal, not enabling it, yet misguided transmission policy would do just that.

It is generally inadvisable to rush any major legislation, especially during a lame duck session. Further, it makes no sense for Republicans to move forward with legislation now when next year they will control the House, the Senate, and the White House.

Signatories to the CEI letter include American Commitment, the American Energy Alliance, the American Energy Institute, the American Lands Council, Americans for Limited Government, Caesar Rodney Institute, Center for Individual Freedom, Energy & Environment Legal Institute, Heartland Institute, Institute for Liberty, John Locke Foundation, Power the Future, Project 21 Black Leadership Network, and Truth in Energy and Climate.

Read the whole letter on CEI.org.

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