Following up on last week’s House of Representatives party-line passage of a debt-limit bill that included provisions to streamline the permitting process for major infrastructure projects, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has re-introduced his version of permit reform. 

Construction groups such as the Associated General Contractors of America have long called for changes to the permit process to enable needed infrastructure projects—including renewable energy projects—to be built without becoming stymied by years of reviews and legal challenges. A recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab found that only one in five transmission projects seeking to connect to the grid from 2000 to 2017 were operational by the end of 2022. 

President Joe Biden has acknowledged that projects stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act need to be built swiftly to be able to meet ambitious emission reduction targets. In 2022, the administration developed a Permitting Action Plan to reduce bottlenecks and ensure that permit applications are reviewed in a timely way, and in March this year released implementation guidance to federal agencies. 

Manchin’s bill is identical to the measure attached to the National Defense Authorization Act late last year, which failed by a tied floor vote. In a statement, Manchin said, “There is overwhelming bipartisan recognition that our current permitting processes aren’t working, and equally bipartisan support for addressing it through comprehensive permitting reform legislation.” 

Manchin’s bill limits deadlines for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to two years and one-year for lower-impact projects, sets a 150-day limit for court challenges and includes language to make it easier for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve national-interest transmission lines. It also would revive the stalled Mountain Valley pipeline project, which passes through his state.

Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Global Energy Institute, said in a statement that Manchin’s introduction of his bill, coupled with an Environment and Public Works hearing last week, are evidence that momentum is building for enacting legislation to revamp project permitting. “These actions collectively recognize that meaningful permitting reform can and should get done this year and give us a solid foundation for bipartisan negotiations.” 

Allison Nyholm, vice president of government affairs for the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE), told ENR that members of both the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Manchin chairs, and the Environment and Public Works Committee have met and are talking about what is possible. “There is interest in regular order” this time, she said, which typically involves hearings and consideration at the committee level before floor votes in each chamber.

ACORE supported Manchin’s measure last year. “We really see siting and permitting as a key to essentially building out our transmission, which is critical to renewables,” Nyholm said.

Despite a growing consensus that it takes too long for major infrastructure projects to be built, developing a package that can pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by the president could be a challenge. 

Environmental groups oppose any efforts to undercut the goals of NEPA. "Any proposal to gut bedrock environmental laws for the gain of fossil fuel and mining companies is putting us on a dangerous path forward,” said Raúl Garcia, Earthjustice vice president of policy and legislation, in a statement.

But even environmental groups believe some improvements to the way energy projects are reviewed and permitted could be made. According to a recent blog authored by the Roosevelt Institute, the problem with getting projects online has less to do with NEPA reviews than with logjams in building transmission capacity. “Through permitting reform done well, paired with policies to invest in transmission capacity, we can shape the energy system we want and embed our democratic values into the clean energy transition,” Kristina Karlsson, institute senior program director for climate and energy transformation, wrote. 

ACORE’s Nyholm agrees that fixing some problems associated with getting FERC approval for transmission projects is necessary. “Transmission is key to getting renewables are developed and deployed. There’s a huge need for additional grid, in order to get energy from where it’s being developed to where it needs to be deployed.”