Bill > HCR005

This bill is a Utah state legislative resolution urging the U.S. Congress to reform federal permitting and environmental review processes for energy infrastructure projects. The resolution highlights significant delays in energy project approvals, noting that environmental impact statements now take an average of 4.5 years and over 2,000 gigawatts of energy production and storage are stuck in interconnection queues. The bill calls for congressional action to expedite energy infrastructure deployment through several key reforms: limiting excessive judicial delays, preventing misuse of environmental laws to obstruct infrastructure construction, reforming electricity transmission planning and permitting processes, and supporting domestic development of diverse energy technologies like nuclear, hydrogen, and critical mineral mining. The resolution emphasizes the need for faster, lower-cost project approvals without compromising environmental standards, argues that current permitting inefficiencies increase dependence on foreign energy sources, and urges Congress to act quickly to protect economic competitiveness, prevent energy reliability issues, and reduce vulnerability to both domestic outages and foreign energy dependencies. The bill specifically requests that copies of the resolution be sent to key federal government leaders, including the President, Senate Majority Leader, House Speaker, and Utah's congressional delegation.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Business and Industry

https://le.utah.gov/~2025/bills/static/HCR005.html