Key senators said Monday that talks had broken down to pass bipartisan permitting reform legislation before the end of the year, dashing hopes for a major bill to speed up energy projects. The failure of the negotiations raises pressure on Republicans to enact their own version of reform next year.
“It’s a shame that our country is losing this monumental opportunity to advance the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reform bill that has strong support in the United States Senate,” Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), said in a statement.
Manchin, one of the key negotiators, has been seeking to pass permitting reform for years but will now retire without succeeding. Along with Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), he authored the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, which they had hoped to attach to must-pass government funding legislation this month.
In recent weeks, they negotiated with House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) on adding his legislation to reform the National Environmental Policy Act, the bedrock environmental law that requires reviews of federal projects. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) was also part of the talks.
“It’s undeniable that our country needs to deliver more energy of all kinds, and this legislation would have achieved that, even more so with the addition of meaningful NEPA improvements that Chairmen Carper and Westerman worked towards over the past several weeks,” Manchin said.
Carper accused Republicans of having “walked away” from talks.
“Democrats offered meaningful NEPA reforms, sought by Republicans, that would shorten project timelines and increase regulatory certainty so that we can build faster in America,” Carper said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, instead of taking real policy wins, House Republicans let their perfect be the enemy of the good,” he said. “I’m extremely disappointed that House Republicans walked away from this opportunity.”
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Democrats have accused Republicans of attempting to gut the NEPA. Republicans claim that the existing process slows down energy projects.
Westerman did not respond to a request for comment.