US Senate nears deal on energy infrastructure reform bill

The US Senate is moving closer to an agreement on legislation aimed at speeding permits for large infrastructure projects, after the White House shifted its position on how renewable energy would be treated, according to a top Senate Democrat.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the environment committee, said on Thursday that negotiations with Republican lawmakers were nearing completion, although it remains uncertain whether the Senate will vote before the midterm elections.

Whitehouse and fellow Democrat Martin Heinrich have spent months negotiating permitting legislation with Republican counterparts. Those talks had been cut off in December after President Donald Trump halted five near-complete offshore East Coast wind farms.

Whitehouse said Democrats received assurances from the Trump administration about changes in how wind and solar energy projects would be handled under the bill.

"I appreciate very much what the Trump administration has done to move in this direction", he told reporters on Thursday.

"Now it's just a question of proper, ordinary Senate procedure playing out", and "more clarity from (the) executive branch on what they mean" on their promises for wind and solar, he said.

The broad outlines of the agreement are expected to be turned into legislative text in coming "days or hours", Whitehouse said, so that lawmakers, industry and environmental groups can review it.

The White House said it is still working to advance the measure. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the administration "is actively working to pass historic permitting reform to help improve energy infrastructure and lower costs."

The House of Representatives has not passed the permitting bill and is scheduled to remain in recess until after the November midterm elections.

The talks come as Trump, in his second term as president, has hindered the expansion of clean energy technologies that were a cornerstone of former President Joe Biden's climate policy.

Democrats had said they were willing to revise major environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act, which Republicans say lead to long delays for major projects. At the same time, Republicans have faced demands from Democrats to speed construction of modern transmission lines that can carry electricity from intermittent sources such as wind and solar.

Major trade groups representing electric utilities, renewable energy companies, and the oil and gas sector have urged lawmakers to pass bipartisan permitting reform this year.

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