Republicans lay out permitting reform vision, but signal openness to negotiation

Key Senate Republicans laid out their vision Thursday for how to speed up the approval process for energy and other infrastructure projects, but they also signaled a willingness to work with Democrats to get bipartisan legislation across the finish line. 

The new proposals, from Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), articulate a starting point for the GOP amid interest in working on the issue from both parties.

Two other recent proposals — a Democratic bill focusing on renewables and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) introduction of his proposal from last year — have been issued in recent days.

Capito’s bill focuses on shortening the time it takes to approve a project and limiting legal challenges they may face. 

Barrasso’s proposal focuses on specifically bolstering oil and gas as well as mining for coal and other minerals in addition to measures related to gas pipelines and electric reliability.

Republicans in Congress have long-lamented how long it takes to build out energy and other infrastructure projects, but congressional discussion of the issue was supercharged last year after Democratic leadership agreed to work with Manchin on the issue in exchange for his vote on the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Last year, Manchin’s proposal ultimately flopped despite getting votes from seven Republicans. 

One major sticking point between the parties has been provisions that aim to bolster the buildout of electric transmission lines, which are particularly important for getting more renewable energy onto the grid, though they could also bolster fossil energy. 

Democrats have supported a provision that would allow the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve transmission lines that are deemed to be in the nation’s interest. 

On Thursday, Barrasso and Capito expressed willingness to work with Democrats on the issue, though they did not include the provision in their proposals. 

“I would say these are negotiating points in terms of what FERC’s role would be,” Capito told reporters. 

But, Barrasso said that he opposes cost allocation provisions in Manchin’s prior proposal, saying he did not want “states like Wyoming subsidizing the energy that was going to California.” 

The lawmakers also said they had a meeting with their counterparts, Manchin and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), saying that all four want to move on the permitting issue. 

While Capito and Barrasso said they did not have a specific timeline, they hoped to reach a deal over the summer. 

“I think we can be a lot quicker here than what most people would think simply because we have been in negotiations for a long time on this,” Capito said. “I would hope we could get to something in the summer.”

Capito’s proposal, like Manchin’s would institute a two-year time limit for the most rigorous type of environmental review.

It would also require judges to render judgments on court challenges to project approvals within 180 days and additionally limit states’ authorities to block projects. It also requires the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The Capito bill would also take on certain environmental regulations, restricting which waters are subject to federal regulations, limiting when changes to polluting require a permit, and limiting federal agencies’ ability to use a metric known as “social costs of greenhouse gases” in their decisionmaking. 

The bill from Barrasso would require there to be at least 11 offshore oil and gas lease sales planned for between the years 2023 and 2028, would give the Energy Department just 45 days to block the construction or expansion of a facility to export liquified natural gas and could allow companies to pay lower fees to the federal government in order to drill on public lands or in public waters.

It would also limit federal authority to block mining in certain areas, lift a freeze on auctioning off federal lands for coal leasing and makes it easier for uranium to be designated as a “critical mineral.”

This story was updated at 2:05 pm ET.