A plan to speed up energy project approvals has largely been scrapped from the accord to lift the debt ceiling, a win for progressives who opposed broad changes to a bedrock environmental law, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the matter. While the agreement struck by White House and GOP negotiators makes minor tweaks to the National Environmental Policy Act, the 50-year-old law requiring federal reviews of energy projects, many of the changes sought by Republicans were omitted, the person said. Still, some of the permitting issues are being negotiated as the agreement gets written into legislation, ... (full story)