The U.S. House of Representatives, heavily criticized recently for its failure to get much done this year outside of the passage of the One Bill Beautiful Bill Act in July, gave its do-nothing reputation a hit on Thursday with the bipartisan passage of the SPEED Act on a 221-196 vote.

The SPEED Act – full name, Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development — is exactly what its name says, an effort by Congress to streamline federal permitting requirements for energy projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. It isn’t the sort of comprehensive permitting reform legislation sought by former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia during 2022 and 2023. But the bill will, if passed by the Senate in its current form, constitute a very good start towards that ultimate goal, since NEPA has always served as one of the most impenetrable roadblocks to expeditious development of major energy-related development projects.

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