Joe Manchin's permitting reform fails

It isn't that surprising that Joe Manchin's permitting reform bill has officially failed. Despite Sen. Manchin's protestations to the contrary, his bill contains a poison pill. Mitch McConnell spoke about that poison pill on the Senate floor Tuesday night.

Sen. McConnell said "What our Democratic colleagues have produced is a phony fig leaf that would actually set back the cause of real permitting reform. This is an issue where it should be very easy to improve upon the status quo, but amazingly, our Democratic colleagues have managed to write language that would actively make things even worse. Senator Manchin’s bill goes out of its way to avoid actually amending the National Environmental Policy Act or any other environmental law."

Sen. McConnell continued, saying "It layers new bureaucracy on top of existing bureaucracy. Its new requirements and deadlines are paper tigers with no enforcement. The few parts of this legislation that would actually change the status quo would take things from bad to worse."

This is Sen. McConnell's dagger:

"For example, yesterday, a long list of state Attorneys General wrote the Senate a panicked letter explaining that Senator Manchin’s language would, 'eviscerate states' ability to chart their own land-use and energy policies.' Among other problems, they explain how this legislation creates a backdoor to sneak through an electricity grid takeover much like the Obama Administration’s unconstitutional so-called 'Clean Power Plan.'

"These state-level officials are also sounding the alarm about higher costs for their citizens. They write the Manchin proposal could impose, "potentially back-breaking costs on residents who may see no true energy benefit whatsoever.' Democrats’ policies already have electricity costs skyrocketing at the fastest rate in more than 40 years. The last thing that struggling families need are more Democratic policies that raise utility bills even higher still.

Kevin Cramer is one of the Senate's experts on energy. Sen. Cramer, (R-ND), issued this statement on the Manchin 'reform' proposal:

Aspirational timelines do not motivate federal bureaucrats or curb the zeal of environmental litigants. We need a ‘shot clock’ for permit approvals which automatically defaults to the applicant within the one- or two-year timeframe outlined in the bill.

If Joe Manchin and his Democrat colleagues want me to get to yes, let’s scrap these proposals to overrun state siting authority, give the timelines some teeth, and treat DAPL the same as the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Let’s make a deal.

Cramer proposed the following amendments:

• Approving the existing Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Dakota Access Pipeline and explicitly states an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required nor is the EA subject to judicial review;
• Establishing a shot clock for infrastructure permits. If a project is not approved within the 1-year and 2-year timeframe, the project is deemed approved; and
• Striking the transmission siting section of the bill.

Manchin's bill was likely going nowhere in the House, where the Congressional Progressive Caucus was fighting against Manchin's bill.

Joe Manchin's feelings are hurt. Unfortunately, they're hurt for the wrong reasons:

It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk. The last several months, we have seen firsthand the destruction that is possible as Vladimir Putin continues to weaponize energy. A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Putin who wish to see America fail. For that reason and my firmly held belief that we should never come to the brink of a government shutdown over politics, I have asked Majority Leader Schumer to remove the permitting language from the Continuing Resolution we will vote on this evening.

Over the last several weeks there has been broad consensus on the urgent need to address our nation’s flawed permitting system. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to move forward on this critical legislation to meet the challenges of delivering affordable reliable energy Americans desperately need. We should never depend on other countries to supply the energy we need when we can produce it here at home. Accelerating the construction of energy infrastructure is critical to delivering that energy to the American people and our allies around the world. Inaction is not a strategy for energy independence and security.

The problem isn't Republicans playing partisan politics. The problem was the poison pill inserted into the Manchin proposal by Democrats. Kevin Cramer has forgotten more about these issues than Sen. Manchin or the Democrats have known. When he states that the Manchin/Democrats bill didn't have teeth in the deadline process, I believe him. The Cramer amendments are required if Sen. Manchin wants to pass permitting reform.