S. 5653: Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026

The bill would make major changes to how federal agencies review and approve projects under environmental and permitting laws, with the goal of speeding up decisions and reducing delays.

Environmental review and permitting process

It would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by requiring federal agencies to use tighter deadlines, assign a lead agency for reviews, coordinate more closely with cooperating agencies, and rely more often on existing state, tribal, or prior federal environmental documents. It would expand the use of categorical exclusions, which are categories of projects that can be approved with less review because they are considered to have limited environmental impact. The bill also limits delays caused by requests for new information and narrows what counts as a “major Federal action” subject to full review.

The bill would also create standardized digital systems for environmental review and permitting, including an electronic NEPA data system, a federal permitting tracker, and a unified authorization portal. Agencies would have to report more information about their compliance with deadlines and review requirements. A Permitting Improvement Fund would support the new systems and related processing.

Limits on review and litigation

The bill would shorten deadlines for agency decisions and for court challenges to permits and environmental approvals. It would also narrow the scope of judicial review, making it harder to challenge certain permitting decisions after set deadlines have passed. In some areas, it would create fast-track legal remedies for project delays, including the possibility of damages when permits are denied or delayed without meeting the bill’s standards.

Water, wetlands, and species protections

The bill would change permitting under the Clean Water Act by making water-quality certification more structured, lengthening some NPDES permit terms, and limiting delays in dredge-and-fill permit decisions. It would tighten the timeline for wetlands-related reviews and create nationwide permits for certain smaller projects.

For endangered species matters, the bill would speed up consultation timelines and allow states to take over some federal consultation responsibilities if they enter approved agreements with the federal government. Those state-run programs would be subject to audits, reporting requirements, and possible termination.

Energy, transmission, hydropower, geothermal, and offshore projects

The bill would streamline permitting for a wide range of energy infrastructure, including transmission lines, pipelines, hydropower, geothermal projects, offshore transmission, and certain grid upgrades. It expands federal authority, especially at FERC, over transmission planning, cost allocation, and siting. It would also reduce or eliminate NEPA review for some existing-rights-of-way upgrades, reconductoring, and pipeline modernization projects.

In transmission planning, FERC would be directed to oversee regional planning, limit federal rights of first refusal in some cases, and require data centers and other high-density electricity users to pay more directly for the transmission costs they create. The bill would also allow certain behind-the-meter distributed energy aggregations to participate in wholesale power markets if they meet eligibility rules.

For hydropower, the bill would require FERC to classify certain changes to projects more efficiently and streamline licensing for micro-hydrokinetic projects, while keeping dam safety oversight in place.

For geothermal energy, it would speed up leasing and drilling approvals, create an ombudsman and task force, publish a federal geothermal guidance book, reduce some NEPA review requirements, and allow certain non-federal geothermal activities to proceed without federal permits. It would also allow agencies to recover some processing and inspection costs.

Mining and abandoned mine work

The bill would expand certain hardrock mining rules, including mill-site provisions, and create an Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund to support cleanup-related work.

Historic preservation

The bill would shorten and narrow historic preservation review under federal law. Agencies would focus only on properties in a project’s area of effect, could rely more on NEPA documents and programmatic agreements, and would face tighter deadlines and streamlined court review. It would also authorize funding for the Historic Preservation Fund and for tribal historic preservation databases.

Agency operations and data collection

The bill would require annual reviews of compensation plans for certain federal agencies and power agencies, allow some hiring outside normal civil service rules, and require the Energy Information Administration to collect more data on electricity demand from data centers.

Relevant Companies

• NEE - NextEra Energy could be affected by faster transmission, renewable, and grid permitting.
• DUK - Duke Energy may be impacted by transmission planning and grid expansion provisions.
• SO - Southern Company could see effects from changes to transmission, generation, and permitting timelines.
• EXC - Exelon may be affected by transmission and market-access changes.
• PWR - Quanta Services could benefit from faster permitting for transmission and grid projects.
• ETN - Eaton could be affected by accelerated grid modernization and transmission investment.
• GEV - GE Vernova may be impacted by transmission, grid, and power infrastructure changes.
• FCX - Freeport-McMoRan could be affected by mining-related permitting and mine-site provisions.
• WMB - Williams Companies may be affected by changes to pipeline permitting and review timelines.
• AMRC - Ameresco could be impacted by streamlined distributed energy and grid-related permitting.