Tom Steyer backs bipartisan permitting reform for U.S. clean energy buildout

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Steyer backs permitting reform

Highlights

Tom Steyer urges progressives to support the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, calling it Congress's most comprehensive permitting reform for clean energy buildout.
The bill would let the federal government override state delays on transmission siting, require data centers to pay grid costs, and protect permitted projects from shifting political decisions.
Steyer warns current permitting delays benefit legacy energy systems, arguing swift legislative action is needed for faster clean energy investment and grid expansion to meet climate targets.

Steyer makes case for Senate permitting package

As reported by U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, citing the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Steyer published an op-ed on his Substack calling on fellow progressives to back the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, a permitting reform agreement led by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, Sheldon Whitehouse, Shelley Moore Capito and Mike Lee. He presents the measure as the most comprehensive permitting reform package produced by Congress and says it offers a better path than the status quo for building clean energy projects at speed and scale.

Steyer ties that argument to worsening climate conditions, citing California's fifth Climate Change Assessment report and its warnings of longer, hotter summers, stronger storms and deadly wildfires. He says those trends underline the need for Congress to move quickly rather than allow existing delays to keep projects stalled.

In his argument for the bill, Steyer says the legislation would allow the federal government to intervene when states reject transmission planning or take more than a year to site power lines. He says that could help expand the grid, move more low-cost electricity across the country and lower consumer energy bills.

He also highlights provisions requiring data centers to pay their share of grid costs and measures designed to protect lawfully permitted projects from shifting political decisions, except in extraordinary circumstances or when a court overturns approval. Steyer acknowledges the package is a compromise, but says it remains materially stronger than the current framework.

Implications for clean energy investment and execution

Steyer argues that most projects now stuck in development pipelines are tied to clean energy, making permitting speed a central issue for the sector's expansion. In his view, delays benefit legacy energy systems trying to preserve their market position, while faster approvals would support newer technologies needed for decarbonization.

He says the current permitting structure neither protects the environment effectively nor advances deployment of cleaner infrastructure at the pace required by climate targets. That framing positions the Senate package not only as a political compromise, but also as an operational tool for accelerating transmission, generation and related investment across the U.S.

Steyer's appeal is directed at progressive lawmakers and activists who may be wary of compromise on permitting. He argues that execution will determine the bill's value, but maintains that the urgency of climate change means Congress should pass the measure now rather than continue with a slower and more uncertain approval system.

In our earlier article on the U.S. AI data center buildout, we examined how soaring financing costs, construction delays, and power-grid constraints are undermining the credibility of many planned projects. We also noted that local opposition and tighter expectations around securing power supplies are becoming major bottlenecks, raising doubts about how quickly developers can turn massive investment plans into operational capacity.

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