纽约州众议员哈基姆·杰弗里斯在选举之夜的胜选演讲中说，他和民主党同僚将努力“让每个美国人都能负担得起这个国家的生活”。他们现在就有机会开始行动，不必等到明年1月接管国会。他们应该抓住这个机会。
In his election night victory speech, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York said he and his fellow Democrats would fight to “make this country affordable for every single American.”They have an opportunity to start now, before they take control of Congress in January. They should seize it.
参议院本周正在辩论一项法案，其主题比听起来更重要：许可改革。该法案将使建设太阳能农场、电池储能、输电线路等变得更加容易。因此，它将降低能源价格。现状昂贵、肮脏且不稳定。国家需要建造大量大型新设施，让未来更便宜、更清洁。
The Senate this week is debating a bill on a subject that is more important than it sounds: permitting reform. The bill would make it easier to build solar energy farms, battery storage, power lines and more. As a result, it would reduce energy prices. The status quo is expensive, dirty and unstable. The country needs to build a lot of big, new things to make its future cheaper and cleaner.
该法案得到了参议院一些最关注环保的议员以及白宫的支持。这一政治奇迹反映了多年来的两党谈判、屡次受挫和功亏一篑。但在民主党于中期选举中大获全胜后，一些民主党人倾向于放弃这项立法，等到明年接管国会后再行动。届时民主党将起草一项更符合一些环保组织心意的新法案。
The bill has the support of some of the Senate’s most environmentally minded members — and of the White House. This political miracle reflects years of bipartisan negotiations, false starts and near misses. But following their party’s whopping midterm victory, some Democrats are tempted to scrap this legislation and wait to act until they take control of Congress next year. Democrats would then draft a new bill more to the liking of some environmental groups.
当前法案很有机会在参议院通过。周一，参议员们以73票对25票通过了一项程序性措施，最终投票预计将在未来几周进行。众议院的情况则更为不明朗。可能投反对票的人中包括民主党领袖杰弗里斯，他已对该法案提出担忧。
The current bill has a good chance to pass the Senate. By a margin of 73 to 25, senators approved a procedural measure on Monday, with a final vote expected in coming weeks. The situation in the House is murkier. Among the potential no votes on the bill is Mr. Jeffries, the Democratic leader, who has raised concerns about it.
对该法案持怀疑态度的民主党人正在犯错。特朗普总统几乎肯定会否决明年的后续法案。而时间很重要，尤其是对气候而言。国会现在就应该通过这项法案。然后它可以在明年回来，通过其他会带来更多好处的法案。
The bill’s Democratic skeptics are making a mistake. President Trump would almost certainly veto a follow-up bill next year. And time matters, especially for the climate. Congress should pass this bill now. It can then return next year and pass other bills that would do even more good.
美国现行的许可制度源于许多善意。立法者制定法律，本意是保护水源、空气、濒危物种和宝贵的土地。然而多年来，这些规则变得过于复杂和严苛，以至于国家无法建设它所需要的未来。这种复杂性加剧了人们对政府能否办成任何事的冷嘲热讽。
The country’s current permitting regime is the result of many good intentions. Legislators wrote laws intended to protect water, air, endangered species and precious land. Over the years, though, the rules have become so complex and restrictive that the country cannot build the future it needs. This complexity feeds cynicism about whether government can get anything done.
以今天为例，修建一条远距离输电线路通常需要五到十三年，比如那条将清洁水电从魁北克输送到新英格兰的线路。那条线路花了大约十年才完工，于今年1月开通。它的容量足以满足马萨诸塞州约五分之一的电力需求，预计每年可为消费者节省5000万美元。
Today, for instance, it typically takes between five and 13 years to build a long-distance power line, like the one that transports clean hydropower from Quebec to New England. That line took about a decade to finish, and opened in January. It has enough capacity to meet about one-fifth of Massachusetts’s electricity demand, and it’s projected to save consumers $50 million a year.
不幸的是，许多其他有价值的项目由于许可审批的官僚程序而仍未完工，或者从未开工。这种缓慢削弱了应对气候变化的斗争。如果没有线路将清洁电力从阳光充足、风力充沛的地区输送到全国其他地方，国家最终只能改用肮脏能源来替代。那些称气候变化为紧急状况的民主党人，不应捍卫一个慢到无法建设应对气候变化所需清洁能源的许可制度。
Many other valuable projects, unfortunately, remain incomplete or were never begun because of permitting bureaucracy. The slowness weakens the fight against climate change. Without lines to transport clean power from sunny and windy regions to other parts of the country, the country ends up using dirty energy in its place. Democrats who call climate change an emergency should not defend a permitting system too slow to build the clean energy that would address it.
美国的许多许可规则制定于工业发展通常造成环境危害的时代。作为回应，环保运动养成了反对新项目的习惯。然而今天，这种惯性往往有利于化石燃料公司。它们也可以利用监管国家机器，让清洁能源项目陷入许可审批的炼狱之中。
Many of the country’s permitting rules were written at a time when industrial development usually caused environmental harm. In response, the environmental movement developed a habit of opposing new projects. Today, though, inertia often benefits fossil fuel companies. They, too, can use the regulatory state to tie up clean energy projects in permitting purgatory.
当今官僚体系的代价，远不止对气候的影响。一个更强大、更清洁的电网将使美国能源更可靠，减少对敌对外国的依赖。没有哪个国家能对风实施禁运。更好的许可规则还能改善交通和道路安全：康涅狄格州一个道路信号灯项目将改造一处危险的高速公路交叉口——但也会影响附近的湿地——该项目于2024年提出，但可能要到2032年才能完工。公共卫生也可能受损。今年1月，华盛顿一条污水管道在维修被拖延八年后爆裂，数亿加仑的废物涌入波托马克河。
The costs of today’s bureaucracy are broader than its effect on the climate. A more robust, cleaner grid would make American energy more reliable and less dependent on hostile foreign nations. No country can embargo the wind. Better permitting rules would improve traffic and road safety: A road signal project in Connecticut that would fix a dangerous highway intersection — but would also affect nearby wetlands — was proposed in 2024 but may not be finished until 2032. And public health can suffer too. In January, a Washington sewage line burst after a repair was delayed for eight years, sending hundreds of millions of gallons of waste into the Potomac River.
最后，现行许可制度推高了美国人的成本——这正是当今政治的主导议题。现状使新项目更难投入运营，包括风能和太阳能等廉价可再生能源，从而增加了美国人的能源成本。国会中的这项法案将在解决这些问题上取得进展，并开始兑现民主党关于解决生活负担问题的承诺。
Finally, the current permitting system raises costs for Americans — the issue that dominates politics today. The status quo increases their energy costs by making it harder for new projects to come online, including inexpensive renewables such as wind and solar. The bill in Congress would make progress against these problems and begin to deliver on Democrats’ promise to address affordability.
该法案还有一项涉及数据中心的条款，这是民主党在今年竞选期间作出诸多承诺的另一个议题。该条款将迫使数据中心运营商支付其用电的全部成本，从而保护普通电力消费者。
The bill also has a provision addressing data centers, another subject on which Democrats made many promises during this year’s campaign. It would force data center operators to pay the full costs of the electricity they use, protecting the average electricity consumer.
该法案的反对者，如塞拉俱乐部，抱怨它可能损害环境。这种担忧是错位的。
Opponents of the bill, such as the Sierra Club, complain that it might harm the environment. That concern is misplaced.
是的，该法案将放宽一系列项目的建设审批，包括化石燃料基础设施。但美国不会在短期内停止使用石油或天然气，给这些项目增加不必要的成本几乎没有意义。研究公司荣鼎集团称，总体而言，到2040年，该法案将使发电厂的温室气体排放量减少多达18%。部分原因是它将使高压输电线路的建设数量增加近两倍，这些线路将电力从通常地处偏远的风力发电厂和太阳能发电厂输送到需要电力的城市。
Yes, the bill would ease the construction of a range of projects, including fossil fuel infrastructure. But the United States will not stop using oil or natural gas anytime soon, and adding unnecessary costs to those projects serves little purpose. On net, the bill would cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by as much as 18 percent by 2040, according to the Rhodium Group, a research firm. It would do so in part by nearly tripling the construction of high-voltage transmission lines, which whiz electricity from often remote wind farms and solar plants to cities that need power.
常识支持这一发现。石油和天然气公司用了几十年的时间建设基础设施；可再生能源需要迅速赶上。目前，美国从零碳能源获得的能源占比不到五分之一。如果需要花费十年时间建造一条输电线路，就不可能迅速提高这一比例。
Common sense supports that finding. Oil and gas companies have built their infrastructure over decades; renewables need to catch up quickly. The country currently gets less than a fifth of its energy from zero-carbon sources. Rapidly increasing that share will be impossible if it takes a decade to build a transmission line.
这就是该法案赢得热情的气候活动人士支持的原因，例如新墨西哥州参议员马丁·海因里希、夏威夷州参议员布莱恩·沙茨和罗德岛州参议员谢尔顿·怀特豪斯。佐治亚州的两名参议员乔恩·奥索夫和拉斐尔·沃诺克本周都投票支持推进该法案。公民气候游说团和气候与能源解决方案中心等注重实际的环保组织，以及《消费者报告》都对该法案表示支持。
This is why the bill draws support from passionate climate crusaders such as Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Both of Georgia’s senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, voted to advance it this week. Practical-minded environmental groups such as the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions have endorsed it, as has Consumer Reports.
该法案的支持者认识到，这只是实现更广泛议程的第一步，该议程旨在减少碳排放和降低能源成本。但是，任何关心气候变化的人都应该为该法案欢呼。一个刚刚在负担能力问题上赢得选举的政党不应该放弃立即开始兑现承诺的机会。 。
The bill’s supporters recognize that it is merely a first step toward a much broader agenda to reduce carbon emissions and lower energy costs. But anyone who cares about climate change should cheer this bill. And a party that just won an election on affordability should not pass up a chance to start delivering immediately. Source photograph via Getty Images.