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SENATE GOP ENTERS PERMITTING REFORM BATTLE ROYALE: Are you tired of permitting reform yet?
Senate ENR Ranking Member John Barrasso and EPW Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito are adding their own energy permitting reform legislation to the mix of proposals and already-approved bills aiming to speed project reviews and approvals.
Barrasso’s SPUR Act: Barrasso’s new bill has some of the same flair as House Republicans’ HR 1. It would:
- Give the Department of Energy new direction to approve applications for LNG export expansions more quickly following FERC approvals and automatically approve an application where DOE fails to issue a decision on time
- Require Interior to approve a five-year program for offshore oil and gas leasing by September, already the department’s current timeline, with specific directions to finalize no fewer than 11 lease sales
- Make approved applications for permits to drill valid for longer (4 vs. the current 2 years)
Aggressive on minerals: Barrasso’s bill would also prohibit the recission of any leases, permits, or claims for mining on federal lands, unless that recission is ordered by Congress or the lessee violates terms.
Barrasso and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had a dustup over this issue, particularly the administration’s actions in and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, during Tuesday’s ENR hearing.
Interior canceled two mineral leases there in January 2022 for the Twin Metals mine on the grounds that the Trump administration improperly renewed them, and the department has since withdrawn acreage in the larger Superior National Forest blocking mineral development.
Capito’s RESTART Act: An updated version of her START Act from last Congress, the bill includes some items familiar to this conversation:
- One-year timeline for Environmental Assessments under NEPA and two year limits for Environmental Impact Statements
- Litigation limits
- Approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Clean Water Act: Capito’s bill would also reform the politically sensitive Clean Water Act, which Manchin’s bill doesn’t touch, including by setting new bounds for navigable waters under the Waters of the United States, while also altering Section 401 governing state-approved water quality certifications to prevent states from denying a certification for policy reasons or political objections (Barrasso pointed to this case).
How they’re thinking about negotiations: Reforms related to electrical transmission siting and cost allocation and environmental justice have been the premier topics of concern among many Democrats but get little attention from the two lawmakers.
Barrasso is a no-go on cost allocation reforms that are especially central to Democratic priorities and have a place of their own in Manchin’s bill. He said he didn’t want ratepayers in Wyoming paying for an interstate transmission project carrying electricity to California.
Limiting any reforms legislation to transmission, as many Democrats might like to do, is also out of the question, Capito said this morning.
“We can’t have permitting reform that only deals with transmission, because it’s still not going to solve the problem and it will not bring enough votes,” she said.
Finally, on MVP: Some Republicans even have scoffed at unilaterally approving the MVP, derided by some as a “pet project” of Manchin’s and Capito’s.
Capito’s thoughts: “Obviously, this is exceedingly important to me. I’m not going to say anything’s a must-do … but it is something that I think is an abomination, really, of an overuse and abuse of the regulatory and judicial authorities, and it’s a reason we need to do something,” she said.
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RUST BELT DEMOCRATS GO IN FOR SOLAR CRA RESOLUTION: The Senate passed the solar resolution of disapproval with support from nine Democrats, including the full delegations from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, teeing up Biden’s third veto.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon also voted in favor of the resolution, and Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote against it.
The White House pledged a veto for the resolution.
WESTINGHOUSE LAUNCHES NEW SMR TECHNOLOGY: Nuclear pioneer Westinghouse announced the launch of its new 300-megawatt small modular reactor based upon its AP1000 reactor, the design used at the two new generating units at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle.
The design will compete against a number of next-generation reactor designs, some of which utilize novel and yet-to-be proven technologies, that nuclear startups such as TerraPower and X-energy are undertaking to demonstrate.
Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse said designing the SMR based on the AP1000, first approved in 2004 and deployed at a handful of power plants in China, would give the design advantages and reduce delivery risks associated with bringing a new reactor to market.
COMER PROBES LOOPHOLE IN EPA’S FEDERAL GRANT PROCESS: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky is probing the EPA’s administration of research grants and post-award disclosures, after the agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified a loophole within the existing system that does not require disclosure of foreign support received until after a grant has been awarded.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Comer called for the EPA to provide the House Oversight Committee with all documents and memos related to the OIG’s memo. It also called for the EPA to brief committee staff on the matter.
“The EPA must do a better job at ensuring taxpayer-funded research is not influenced by foreign nations seeking to access sensitive research,” Comer said in a copy of the letter, which was shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner. “We know China and other hostile nations want to steal American innovation while advancing their own interests. The Oversight Committee is investigating whether the EPA is taking the necessary steps to address vulnerabilities identified by the Inspector General. We must ensure the EPA is transparent in its grant administration.”
OIL COMPANIES SPENT BIG TO OPPOSE NEWSOM’S WINDFALL PROFIT BILL: U.S. oil companies spent roughly $9.4 million in lobbying efforts in California in the first quarter of 2023, including on Senate Bill X 1-2, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bill to cap oil majors’ windfall profits in the state. Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) were the two biggest spenders, according to Politico’s California Playbook.
The Rundown
Reuters Exclusive: India amends power policy draft to halt new coal-fired capacity
National Fisherman New association seeks to unite New England fishermen
