Just before the U.S. Senate recessed at the end of September, leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee introduced what is being called the most comprehensive permitting bill to date, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). The committee chairs and ranking members held a joint news conference announcing the long-awaited deal.
On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Zach Rable, federal policy specialist at the Michigan Department of Transportation, speaks to the highlights and challenges in the legislation and the expected difficulty of reconciling it with House priorities.
BAAJA makes procedural changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act, and regulations around electricity transmission, which reflect significant increased demands on the grid. That provision mentions data centers, including those used for artificial intelligence, which are adding large new demands to the grid.
Proponents say the bill aims to keep other customers from paying for the grid infrastructure upgrades they require. This section shares some principles found in the bipartisan, bicameral Ratepayer Protection Act that passed the House (H.R. 9340).
Analysts at the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) have outlined what they see as BAAJA’s positives and negatives.
