With All-of-the-Above Energy Amendment, Congresswoman Lee Fights to Save Solar and End Permitting Weaponization in SPEED Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) voted against the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, a Republican-authored permitting reform bill that proposes significant changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“We need real permitting reform to responsibly speed up good energy projects and lower costs for consumers. I voted against the SPEED Act because it doesn’t do one thing to end the Trump Administration’s ongoing weaponization of the permitting process against solar and wind energy,” said Congresswoman Susie Lee.“This is the biggest piece of red tape we have when it comes to permitting — particularly here in the ‘Solar State’ — and the SPEED Act fails to cut through it. I’ll continue working toward actual permitting reform to lower energy prices and bring solar jobs and investments back to Nevada.”
House Republicans refused to give an up-or-down vote to Lee’s amendment to the SPEED Act to ensure equal treatment of all energy sources as part of the permitting process at the Department of the Interior (DOI). Since July, DOI has required that Trump-appointed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum personally sign off on every permit related to solar and wind energy development — even as the White House has offered “concierge, white glove service” to oil, coal and other fossil fuel companies seeking to gain fast approval for their projects.
In September, Lee discussed her proposed changes at a House Natural Resources Committee (HNRC) legislative hearing on the SPEED Act:
- Lee emphasized that the new red tape from the Trump Administration has not been just a speed bump in permitting Nevada solar projects, but “a brick wall.”
- She urged HNRC Chairman Bruce Westerman (AR-04) to work with her to add parity-focused language to the bill before its markup, which would prevent officials in this or any future presidential administration from burying permits for disfavored energy sources under a mountain of bureaucracy.
During the HNRC markup of the SPEED Act in November, Lee first formally offered her amendment:
- Lee’s amendment would have restored genuine permitting parity at DOI, for all forms of energy, in a clear and unambiguous way.
- She highlighted that since the publication of the July memo requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal approval of every permit related to solar and wind energy development, zero solar and wind permits had managed to make their way out of the Secretary’s office.
- She emphasized the warning from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) that the Trump Administration’s attacks on America’s solar and storage industry alone are threatening over 500 projects nationwide, representing half of all new planned power capacity in the United States.
- She cited new analysis featured in POLITICO from Lazard, the world’s largest independent investment bank, which found that wind and solar are the clear cheapest choice of new power sources to build when accounting for capital, fuel, operations and maintenance costs.
- She also shared a letter from Republican Governor Joe Lombardo to the Secretary, which explained that the DOI memo “has not only stopped solar development on federal lands in Nevada, but also on private land where federal approvals such as transmission line rights of way are required.”
- HNRC Republicans voted down her amendment.
Today, Lee offered House Democrats’ Motion to Recommit the SPEED Act back to committee to add her amendment:
- Lee re-submitted her amendment to the House Rules Committee for consideration by the full House of Representatives, together with 30 cosponsors — making it the most-supported amendment to the SPEED Act by far.
- Republicans on the Rules Committee did not make her amendment in order, denying it a vote on the House Floor as a result.
- Lee then led House Democrats’ “Motion to Recommit” the SPEED Act, which would have sent the bill back to HNRC to incorporate her all-of-the-above permitting parity amendment.
- Once again, House Republicans voted against advancing the amendment.
The full text of the amendment Lee offered for the “Motion to Recommit” is here.
Lee’s amendment was endorsed by Evergreen Action and SEIA.
Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s President and CEO, emphasized, “Without action to address the ongoing, unequal treatment of solar energy, the solar industry will continue to face significant barriers to deployment and investment at a time of skyrocketing energy demand. Slowing the buildout of affordable, reliable solar energy will only result in higher energy bills for Americans. We thank Congresswoman Lee for her work to keep fairness at the center of permitting negotiations.”
As southern Nevada’s sole representative on the House Natural Resources Committee, Congresswoman Lee is doing everything possible to protect public lands and parks, combat climate change, build a clean energy economy, and lower energy costs for hardworking Nevadans.
###