Mike Lee helps craft bipartisan deal tackling energy projects, data center costs
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators released a proposed permitting reform framework that would accelerate energy project approvals and require data centers to pay transmission costs associated with their power demand. Senators said they hope to hold a vote after the midterm elections, although provisions involving wind and solar projects remain unresolved.
Sens. Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse unveiled a 417-page bipartisan permitting reform framework addressing energy project approvals, transmission infrastructure and environmental reviews. The proposal includes a requirement that data center developers cover the incremental transmission costs needed to serve their facilities rather than shifting those costs to utility ratepayers.
The legislation is not finalized, and negotiators are still working on language concerning wind and solar projects, an issue tied to the Trump administration’s approval policies. The senators hope the Senate will vote after the midterm elections, but acknowledged that the election results could affect the measure’s prospects. The article includes a proposed data center site at the former Fingerhut building near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon in Utah as a local example of the development driving the policy debate.