Finally: Manchin unveils a bipartisan bill for permitting reform

Senator Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) is one step closer to a comprehensive permitting reform, something he has long considered a top priority for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee he chairs. 

• The top line: In cooperation with Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Manchin released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 this week, a bipartisan bill that comes after nearly two years of negotiations. The legislation aims to accelerate the country’s permitting process for major energy and mineral projects of all types.
• The market grounding: Permitting reform is considered by many to be one of the most important things Congress can do to facilitate the energy transition, with Manchin and Barrasso describing the current process as “outdated,” “broken,” and “disastrous.” Legislators on both sides of the aisle consider it a priority, but the issue has been stuck for years. Though at least 10 bills have been proposed, a lack of bipartisan backing has meant that none has made it past committee review.  

In a statement, Manchin described the legislation as “a commonsense, bipartisan piece of legislation that will speed up permitting and provide more certainty for all types of energy and mineral projects without bypassing important protections for our environment and impacted communities.” 

The agreement on the bill comes three months after the Biden administration unveiled two final rules to reform the federal permitting process and reduce the country’s transmission backlog. The action created a new program to streamline coordination across agencies and placed a two-year time limit for agencies issuing authorizations and permits, among other things. Though meaningful, it has long been understood that a true overhaul of the process would require Congress’ hopping on board. 

Sen. Manchin has long been the legislature’s biggest champion for permitting reform, which he described in March as his committee’s top priority.

Nonetheless, given that the senator is stepping down in January, time was growing short. Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies, told Latitude Media in April that passing permitting reform before the end of the term would be “very ambitious.” 

“I think passage by the lame duck period after the elections is feasible,” he said at the time. “They really do need to get moving quickly to meet that opportunity before the end of the Congress, but I think it’s still doable at this point.”

While the bill still has a long way to go before it’s passed — through committee and approval on the floor of both chambers before arriving on the president’s desk — the bill surely has a better shot of passage than most. Permitting reform has been a major priority for both parties, and the bill’s bipartisan backing bodes well. And it could not not have a more fervent supporter than the outgoing Manchin, who is sure to throw his weight behind its passage. 

The bill tackles permitting for everything from electric transmission to offshore wind, and from mining to liquefied natural gas exports. It accelerates leasing and permitting decisions for all projects on federal lands, including for oil and gas (a fact that has already elicited outrage from certain environmental groups); streamlines environmental reviews for renewable, electric grid, and storage projects that are considered “low-disturbance”; and modernizes geothermal leasing and permitting processes, among other things. 

In terms of transmission, the legislation would strengthen the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority over transmission line approvals and direct it to establish an interregional transmission planning process. It also would require the Secretary of the Interior to hold annual lease sales for both offshore wind and for offshore oil and gas between 2025 and 2029. 

It would also give the Secretary of Energy a deadline to decide on pending LNG export applications based on available economic and emissions analyses. In January, the Biden administration announced a temporary pause on pending approvals of LNG exports to countries without free trade agreements, in order to “update the underlying analyses for authorizations.” Earlier this month, a federal judge reversed the decision — which drew ire especially from those on the right — requiring the DOE to restart considering the applications.

The long-awaited bill has elicited mixed reactions. 

Many clean energy groups, including the American Clean Power Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and the American Council on Renewable Energy, have praised the legislation, with particular enthusiasm for its expected impact on interregional transmission lines. 

The bill has also drawn praise from the oil and gas industry, with the American Petroleum Institute saying that the “legislation not only takes tangible steps toward a more transparent, consistent and timely permitting process, but also ends the administration’s misguided LNG export permit pause.” 

Other green groups, such as the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, have denounced the reform as an harmful giveaway to the fossil fuel industry.