Washington, D.C. – Today, Representatives Scott Peters (CA-50), Gabe Evans (CO-08), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), and Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) released a discussion draft for the Create Expedited Reviews to Transform American Infrastructure Now (CERTAIN) Act to transform the federal permitting process and meet America’s energy and electricity needs.

The CERTAIN Act would address permit certainty—ensuring federal agencies handle project authorizations and environmental reviews fairly and efficiently, with clear timelines, notice requirements, and accountability. This would facilitate the build out of the energy we need to lower costs, create jobs, and protect our environment. It also emphasizes coordinating between different agencies involved in these processes to avoid unnecessary delays.

"It’s no secret that our surging energy demand is straining our grid and our wallets,” Congressman Peters said. “As we face the growing challenge of powering our nation’s future, we must act quickly and effectively. Our CERTAIN Act is the comprehensive solution we need—giving us the tools to tackle energy challenges head-on, without unnecessary delays, and ensuring we’re meeting the moment with urgency and responsibility."

“As the representative of a truly all-of-the-above energy district, I hear from oil and gas and renewable energy producers alike that overburdensome permitting processes and lack of permit certainty has plagued investment and delayed innovation. Across the U.S., modernizing how we permit our infrastructure is absolutely vital to meeting our growing energy demand and lowering costs for working families. I’m proud to lead these bipartisan discussions to build upon the work already done in the House to strengthen American jobs, businesses and markets, reduce cost of living, and provide investors greater certainty when allocating capital to current and future energy projects,” said Congressman Evans

“Endless permitting roadblocks hurt communities and drive up energy costs. I’m proud to co-lead the bipartisan CERTAIN Act to bring transparency and accountability to the permitting process and ensure projects that meet their requirements can move forward on time,” said Congressman Garbarino.

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen how shifting policies from one administration to the next lead to stalled energy projects and make long-term planning impossible, and we cannot afford to leave our energy producers exposed to this political pendulum. That’s why I’m proud to be leading the CERTAIN Act, a bipartisan solution that protects the permitting process for all types of energy projects from undue political interference,” said Congressman Vasquez.

Key provisions of the CERTAIN Act include:

• Protection from Political Interference: Provide certainty for infrastructure investment by ensuring that lawfully issued permits that remain in compliance are safeguarded from political interference.
• Clear Timelines and Deadlines: Set specific deadlines, timelines, and milestones for federal agencies in the environmental review process. This would cover all reviews, under all environmental laws, for all projects.
• Transparency and Accountability: Promote transparency and accountability throughout the federal environmental review process, including by empowering decision-makers to resolve disputes.
• Address Workforce Needs: Require agencies to analyze and respond to workforce and technical needs, ensuring they can meet statutory obligations for environmental reviews.
• Agency Accountability: Strengthen communication between agencies and project sponsors on any delays, with opportunities to hold agencies accountable in court for missing deadlines and review milestones.

A section-by-section on the draft is available HERE. A one pager is available HERE. Read what organizations are saying HERE. Legislative text for the discussion draft is available HERE.