Senate Republicans introduced a permitting reform bill Monday in a countereffort to the deal supporting “comprehensive permitting reform” legislation struck between Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (WV) and 38 of her Republican colleagues are behind the Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency Act, which includes some of the same provisions outlined in a Democratic-led proposal. Schumer and party leadership are having trouble amassing support from fellow Democrats due to its provisions favoring fossil fuels, as well as from Republicans, who aren’t interested in playing ball.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION FACES TEST ON OIL AND GAS LEASING THIS WEEK
The START Act proposes to codify several changes to National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act regulations as they were promulgated during the Trump years and designed to review, permit, and construct energy infrastructure projects more swiftly. For example, it would codify the Trump EPA’s definition of “waters of the United States,” which limited the federal government’s ability to regulate smaller bodies of water and streams.
Also, the bill would notably expedite approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline originating in West Virginia, within 21 days of enactment, as the Manchin-Schumer deal proposes to do.
It also contains language providing that a lead agency overseeing a project “shall develop … a schedule for the energy project that is consistent with a time period of not more than 2 years for the completion of the environmental review and authorization process for an energy project.”
Capito said she and her colleagues introduced the bill because Democrats have yet to finalize and release legislative text for the Manchin-Schumer deal.
“Republicans are introducing this legislation today to deliver solutions to the roadblocks, delays, and postponements of key infrastructure projects across the country,” Capito, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement. She added that Republicans “are unified in working to deliver needed permitting reform, and this legislation is a blueprint for how we can help communities benefit from being able to finally get critical projects across the finish line.”
Democratic leadership is currently managing intraparty backlash to its permitting reform proposal, which was developed at Manchin’s behest in order to secure his support for the Inflation Reduction Act.
Liberal House Democrats have criticized the deal, which currently exists only as a series of broad permitting reform proposals rather than as a fully developed bill, and more than 70 members are urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to allow any legislation to be tacked on to a must-pass continuing resolution to fund the government. They instead favor a stand-alone vote on any final bill.
The permitting deal includes provisions designed to enable renewable energy projects to be permitted and built more quickly while providing for the same for oil and gas projects, such as pipelines.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Republicans, including Capito, have shown some measure of support for provisions in the Democratic deal, though Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has asserted Manchin would never get the necessary votes from the GOP for his “side deal” with Schumer.
