Permitting Faces Long Hill Process As GOP’s ‘Opening Salvo’ Draws Fire

House Republicans’ first suite of bills to ease environmental permitting for energy and other projects is drawing harsh criticism from Democrats, including from some who say they want to work with the GOP, as an assault on core safeguards, signaling that any effort to secure a bipartisan permitting deal faces a lengthy negotiation. Even GOP arguments that overhauling the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other permitting “reform” measures are necessary for securing the clean energy benefits of last year’s...