Exclusive: Solar companies are ramping up their lobbying as concerns grow about rising energy costs and the House is set to soon vote on energy permitting bills. They are pushing on two fronts.
First, on Thursday, more than 140 solar companies urged congressional leadership to revoke an executive memo that requires more review for solar energy project permits.
The companies warned in a letter to House and Senate Democratic and Republican leadership that an Interior Department memo from this summer effectively halts permitting for solar energy and will result in higher energy costs.
Second, the companies are focused on legislation moving its way through the House. House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) is eyeing a vote on permitting legislation before the end of the year. The panel advanced the bipartisan SPEED Act in November, which would streamline the permitting process.
Some Democrats have been seeking “permit certainty language,” which would prevent the executive branch from revoking or stalling over permits for certain energy projects. That language would essentially negate the Interior order and ones like it the solar companies want Congress to revoke.
“Businesses need certainty in order to continue making investments in the United States to build out much-needed energy projects,” the solar companies wrote. “Certainty must include a review process that does not discriminate by energy source. We urge Congress to keep fairness and certainty at the center of permitting negotiations.”
The Solar Energy Industries Association will also be on Capitol Hill next week to meet with lawmakers and staffers on permitting negotiations and distribute the letter. SEIA CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said the SPEED Act fails to solve the solar industry’s permitting problems.
“While the solar industry values the continued bipartisan engagement on permitting reform, the SPEED Act, as passed out of committee, falls short of addressing this core problem: the ongoing permitting moratorium,” Hopper said.
Bipartisan permitting negotiations have been gaining momentum this year in both chambers. Permitting, though, is one of those issues that always gets some traction but never gets over the finish line.
