Specifically, it removes particular obstacles that the Trump administration has been using to block wind projects, including and especially those that were already permitted.

It’s also targeted at electrical grid upgrades, and transmission infrastructure upgrades in particular is an area that we really do need faster approvals.

I don’t love that this speeds up oil and gas pipeline projects or electrical permitting for big data centers. And on Monday, to encourage Democrats to vote for cloture on this bill, the Trump administration finalized approval for 10 wind projects that had been held up for a while. Except Trump himself said in a statement afterward that this bill, if passed into law, would not convince him to issue any more wind permits.

So it really is a calculation of policy tradeoffs: streamline oil pipelines and AI data center construction, in exchange for taking away the president’s power to block already permitted wind, allowing faster development of electrical infrastructure. During a bad faith presidency where the president will selectively enforce only the parts of the law he likes, but in the last 2 years of a lame duck administration, and where wrongfully denied permits would probably be successfully challenged in courts.

I don’t like it, but I also recognize that this isn’t a fossil fuel giveaway. This is a compromise that includes a fossil fuel giveaway, in exchange for things we really do want in the law.