Senator Martin Heinrich unpacks his new permitting reform bill

If there’s one thing stakeholders in the energy sector can agree on, it’s that new infrastructure needs to get built faster and more reliably. A recent Crux study, for instance, found that federal permitting delays hamper clean energy projects for an average of six months; cancellations due to endless litigation are common. 

For years, federal lawmakers have sought to expedite this process through permitting reform: a legislative package that would streamline new energy generation and transmission projects. Yet despite consensus that reform is needed, getting lawmakers to agree on the particulars has proved elusive.

This week, however, the U.S. Senate took an enormous step towards instituting permitting reform with the introduction of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), a wide-reaching bill that has the potential to revolutionize the entire energy sector.

In this episode, Alfred Johnson sits down with New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, a chief architect of the bill. Conducted just minutes after the press conference where Senator Heinrich and his colleagues announced BAAJA, their conversation digs into some of the bill’s largest potential impacts on building and financing projects, as well as the next steps it will take on its journey to becoming law. 

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