House advances SPEED Act to fast-track permits for AI data centers and chip manufacturing

AI future: Big Tech faces key House vote on reforming permit process

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends an event to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo, Japan February 3, 2025. But recently, as AI has been seen as an increasingly important sector, support has grown among Democrats for easing the permitting process. And pressure has increased on Congress as China laps the U.S. in building out AI infrastructure, and as energy-hungry AI data centers stress an aging electric grid. "We've made it entirely too difficult to build big things in this country, and if we do not reform that, that will be a powerful gift that we are giving to China," said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, in an interview with CNBC. "Absent a meaningful reform of NEPA, it's going to be difficult for us to get where we need to go," Johnson said. In a sign of bipartisan support for reform efforts, the SPEED Act was co-sponsored by House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., and Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat. The Data Center Coalition, a group representing major tech companies that are building data centers, said that "comprehensive permitting reform is a must-have to win the AI race, grow the U.S. economy and secure America's continued global leadership." "Unfortunately, transmission and generation constraints across the country are restricting economic growth, including the development of the U.S. data center industry," said Cy McNeill, the group's director of federal affairs. McNeill said that industry "is seeking to continue investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. annually to build America's digital infrastructure." The SPEED Act would tighten the timelines for federal agencies to conduct reviews under NEPA and limit the law's ability to hamstring a project. The bill also shrinks the current six-year statute of limitations for challenging a permit decision to 150 days. That reform, proponents say, will reduce the number of lawsuits that can stall projects for years. "Anybody that wants to stop something under NEPA has an upper hand," Westerman, the bill's co-sponsor, said in an interview. "Data centers use a lot of energy, and we've got to build more energy infrastructure, more energy generating capacity, and the hurdle to doing that is getting these projects permitted," Westerman said. He warned that data centers could get mired in NEPA litigation if they receive federal funding, such as money from the CHIPS and Science Act for semiconductor production projects. The semiconductor giant Micron, in a letter, said that the SPEED Act would "accelerate the implementation of economic development investments, such as those by Micron, and would ensure every federal dollar is used efficiently and effectively." Despite bipartisan agreement on the need for reforming the permit process, the SPEED Act is running into hurdles on Capitol Hill. The ultra-conservative House Republican Freedom Caucus opposes an amendment that Golden added to the bill, which would limit a president's ability to revoke permits for energy projects that he does not like. President Donald Trump this year has done just that with offshore wind permits. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., threatened to tank the bill before it reaches the floor of the House if Golden's amendment remains in the bill. "The Golden amendment has to be taken out, and that's a minimum," Harris said. "If that's in there, that rule is not going to succeed." It is unclear if enough Democrats will back the SPEED Act to cancel out the effect of any opposition to it from the Freedom Caucus's members. Republicans hold a very slim majority in the House, and the party's leadership can only afford to lose three votes, at most, from the GOP caucus to pass legislation without Democratic support.

Congress advances bill to speed up permits for AI- and semiconductor-related projects

The House of Representatives cleared a key step on Tuesday by narrowly approving - by 215 votes to 209 - a procedural motion for the SPEED Act. The bill, backed by OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and several industry players, aims to streamline and accelerate federal permitting for large-scale technology projects, notably artificial intelligence data centers and semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure. The text would shorten timelines tied to environmental reviews required under NEPA and limit to 150 days the period during which a permitting decision can be challenged. The proposal has bipartisan support, with Republican and Democratic signatories, but it is also causing tensions. An amendment from Democrat Jared Golden seeking to restrict the president's revocation of energy permits is dividing the majority. The Freedom Caucus, the ultraconservative wing of the Republican Party, is threatening to block the text if the amendment is retained, underscoring the narrow Republican majority in the House. Amongst Democrats, some lawmakers are calling to go further to speed up clean-energy projects slowed under the Trump administration. The SPEED Act is strongly backed by industry, which denounces the current slowness of authorization processes. The Data Center Coalition cites the potential for hundreds of billions of dollars in investment if rules were eased. Micron, a key semiconductor player, also welcomes a reform that would accelerate the rollout of investments planned under the CHIPS Act. In the Senate, no equivalent version of the text has yet been introduced, but discussions are underway to reach a bipartisan compromise, a necessary condition to clear the 60-vote threshold.