Shift Key with Robinson Meyer What Senator Martin Heinrich Needs to See in a Permitting Deal
Feb 9, 2026
Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico senator and trained mechanical engineer who focuses on transmission and permitting policy, discusses what Democrats would need in a permitting reform deal. He explains why limiting executive interference matters. He highlights transmission’s central role for renewables, debates legislative levers to constrain permit decisions, and warns about data centers’ growing energy demands.
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Permitting Deal Will Be A Compromise
- A bipartisan permitting deal will require tradeoffs: Democrats ease some NEPA barriers while Republicans loosen rules for clean energy and transmission.
- Senator Martin Heinrich warns no one will be fully satisfied but transmission inclusion is essential for grid-scale clean build-out.
Secretarial Order Created Permitting Purgatory
- The Trump administration's secretarial order centralized routine approvals on the Secretary's desk and halted approvals nationwide.
- Heinrich says this intentional red tape has put roughly half the generation pipeline into permitting purgatory.
Set Clear Performance Bars In Law
- Craft legislation that removes executive discretion and sets clear performance bars for approvals.
- Heinrich recommends defining high upfront standards so projects that meet them can proceed without ambiguity.