Still far apart on permitting reform in debt limit talks
from Climate 202, WaPo
| Even Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, acknowledged it seems unlikely that Congress would take a second stab at a permitting overhaul.
“I just don’t think we’re going to get two bites of the apple,” Capito told The Climate 202. “I’m not saying it’s impossible. I just think it would be a pretty tough hill to climb.” Democrats tried a similar approach last summer: To secure the support of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) for the Inflation Reduction Act, party leaders agreed to pass a separate permitting bill. But almost a year later, Manchin has little to show for it. |
PARTISAN GAPS |
| With just days before a June 1 deadline to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, the two parties remain far apart on a possible permitting overhaul.
The two sides have continued to prioritize vastly different policy goals. Broadly speaking, Republicans have sought to accelerate the approval process for pipelines and other fossil fuel projects, while Democrats have tried to speed the construction of the electric transmission lines needed to carry clean power across the country. Meanwhile, the White House has thrown its support behind a permitting bill from Manchin that would fast-track the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline, angering some environmentalists who oppose the controversial project. In an effort to break the impasse, Schatz and Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) will today unveil a discussion draft of their own permitting proposal. Among other things, the Promoting Efficient and Engaged Reviews Act would accomplish one of Democrats’ top permitting priorities: giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission more authority over interstate transmission lines. Carper, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, expressed optimism yesterday that the two sides could find common ground, adding that he has been talking to the White House “quite a bit” about permitting. But Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), another vocal climate hawk, said he thinks it will be “challenging” to forge a consensus on transmission lines. He noted that some Republicans oppose giving FERC more authority over transmission lines, saying it would trample on states’ rights. |
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| “Transmission … has to be in the mix,” Heinrich told The Climate 202. “So it’s not trivial to get to ‘yes’ between where the House Republicans are and where I think the White House and some of us really focused on climate are.” |
HIGH HOPES ON K STREET |
| Meanwhile, many energy industry groups lobbying for a permitting overhaul don’t share Democrats’ qualms about including it in a debt limit deal.
“We’re interested in getting a permitting reform bill on any vehicle that’s leaving the station this Congress,” said Mike Sommers, president and chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute. “And [the debt ceiling deal] happens to be the first one.” Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, a renewable energy industry group, agreed. “We are committed to see [permitting] move forward in any venue where progress is possible,” Grumet said. “And we would be delighted if in the process of protecting the full faith and credit of the United States, we could make progress on energy policy.” And Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, left the door open to the House Republicans’ two-step approach. “If we don’t get it all done in the first piece, we’ll continue to drive forward to get the rest,” he said. Manchin is on the same page. “We’re going to get permitting done,” Manchin said in a brief interview yesterday. “Trust me, we’ll get it done — either on this or by itself.” |