Handful Of House Democrats Embrace Deregulation As America’s Grid Stares Down Disaster
The House passed a bipartisan deregulation bill Thursday, with just under a dozen Democrats supporting the measure amid growing U.S. energy demand.
Eleven House Democrats voted for the SPEED Act, which passed the House by a vote of 221 to 196. If the bill passes the Senate, it would reform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a key environmental law that some energy policy experts say puts the industry under threat of litigation.
The legislation was introduced by Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman and Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.
“The NEPA permitting process is broken and holding America back,” House Natural Resources Committee spokesman Eli Mansour previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The SPEED Act is the solution to get America rebuilding, lower costs, provide affordable energy to American families, and support our national security. Speaker Westerman engaged with House Members on the SPEED Act to ensure we have a strong product that reflects the will of the Conference.” (RELATED: Congress Close to Authorizing Bipartisan Reform. Radical Republicans Say It Threatens Trump’s Agenda.)
House votes on HR 4776 – SPEED Act (sponsored by @RepWesterman / Natural Resources Committee).
– House Press Gallery (@HouseDailyPress) December 18, 2025
American energy demand is increasing after years of stagnation. The Department of Energy (DOE) warned in a July report that the continued withdrawal of reliable energy sources, without adequate replacement, could lead to a 100-fold increase in power outages across the United States by 2030.
NEPA took effect in 1970 and requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts of things like permit applications and infrastructure projects. Former President Jimmy Carter then boosted NEPA with a 1977 executive order that charged the Council on Environmental Quality with drafting regulations governing implementation of the law.
Critics of the evolution of NEPA say that although it was developed with good intentions, the law has been used by environmental groups to challenge energy projects through litigation, even when those groups are not directly affected.
The SPEED Act would codify the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County Supreme Court’s 8-0 rulings on NEPA review, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. If enacted, SPEED would help protect energy projects from litigation because the legislation “establishes an increased level of judicial deference for agency decisions made under NEPA,” writes the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Many energy companies and trade associations strongly support the SPEED Act, arguing that NEPA reform will provide them with the clarity they need to build vital energy infrastructure as U.S. demand takes off.
“It shouldn’t take a decade to drill an oil or natural gas well — or defend one in court. But for energy projects on federal lands, it has become far too common,” Melissa Simpson, president of the Western Energy Alliance, said in a statement released Thursday. “Endless litigation under NEPA has transformed what the United States Supreme Court unanimously affirmed in the recent Seven County decision to be a procedural law into a weapon of perpetual delay. »
Notably, the SPEED Act included an amendment to acquiesce to hard-liners like Maryland Republican Andy Harris, who argued that the legislation should block protections for offshore wind projects in order to align it with President Donald Trump’s energy agenda.
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