Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) voted to pass the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This bipartisan package includes critical provisions to accelerate the deployment of new clean energy projects, expand electrical grids, and support new geothermal projects across Nevada. It also includes updates to Cortez Masto’s Mining Regulatory Clarity Act to allow critical mineral production to continue in the West.
“If we want to continue to lead the world in clean energy development, we need to make federal permitting processes more efficient,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This bipartisan legislation will cut through red tape while continuing to protect our environment and help us combat climate change. I’m also proud to advance my bill to protect responsible critical mineral mining in Nevada, and I’ll keep doing everything I can to support the thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs in my state.”
The Energy Permitting Reform Actcuts red tape and streamlines permitting processes to help deploy more renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, while ensuring all projects continue to be subject to robust environmental reviews. The bill contains several provisions of Cortez Masto’s legislation to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy across Nevada. It also includes the text of Cortez Masto’s bipartisan Streamlining Thermal Energy through Advanced Mechanisms (STEAM) Act to facilitate geothermal exploration on developed lands. This bill is sponsored by Representative Susie Lee (D-Nev.) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The package also includes Cortez Masto and Senator Jim Risch’s (R-Idaho) modified Mining Regulatory Clarity Act. The legislation has undergone several legislative changes to strengthen the bill text and make explicitly clear that mining-support activities, like waste or processing, do not need to occur on lands that contain economically valuable minerals. It also prevents misuse of mining claims that cannot be developed, and confirms that existing protected spaces, like national parks or wilderness areas, will not be impacted by any legislative updates. The updated bill also directs mining claim fees to support abandoned mine clean-up across the U.S.
The full permitting reform package can be found here.
Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts in Congress to support Nevada’s mining industry, protecting more than 83,000 local jobs and paving the way for Nevada to power the clean energy economy. She has consistently blocked burdensome taxes on mining. She wrote the battery manufacturing and recycling program from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is funding projects in Nevada, and supported numerous provisions to improve technology supply chains that will help build out Nevada’s electric vehicle infrastructure, continue to support solar and geothermal energy projects, and invest in Nevada’s infrastructure and workforce development programs.
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