Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Senate ENR plans to mark up the Manchin-Barrasso environmental permitting bill next week — but plenty of hurdles remain to getting it over the finish line.
Why it matters: This bill is the framework for a permitting deal. It's likely to get bipartisan support in committee.
Driving the news: The committee has noticed a July 31 business meeting to vote on the bill.
- Advancing it before Congress leaves town for August would tee it up for possible inclusion in a year-end legislative package.
- Committee members whom Nick talked to were mostly positive about the bill.
- And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters yesterday that although he hadn't seen the bill, he "would like to get permitting reform done."
What they're saying: Sen. Martin Heinrich — a climate hawk and possible next Democratic leader on the committee — called it "another milestone" in getting a permitting bill done.
- "I'm excited about it. I think we have come up with a package that is by its nature bipartisan," Heinrich said.
- And Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who's been discussing permitting with EPW Chair Tom Carper, said it's a "good first step."
Yes, but: It's certainly possible that some Republicans will have a problem with the transmission provisions.
- Some environmental groups have come out hard against it, even if they like some of the language to build out power lines. That's going to mean progressives in both chambers will try to kill this bill.
- "Some zombies just don't die," Rep. Jared Huffman told Axios.
The bill includes some notable language to ease the permitting path for renewables, including new NEPA exceptions for smaller wind and solar projects.
- It also would set a statutory goal to authorize 50 gigawatts of renewable energy on federal land by 2030 and 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by a date determined by federal agencies.
- It also would pair up mandated offshore oil and gas leasing with mandated offshore wind lease sales over the next five years.
It's worth underscoring that this really is a significant compromise on transmission policy.
- It represents Republicans agreeing to a future rulemaking on interregional power line planning — something FERC may do on its own.
- The bill would broadly give FERC more authority to site and permit big "national interest" transmission lines (after allowing state authorities a year to act).
- "It clearly has benefited from the feedback from the bill from two years ago and has thought through some of the challenges that were raised," said Christina Hayes, executive director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid.
Our thought bubble: A look at what the bill doesn't do offers a look at why it might not happen.
- For one thing, the 150-day statute of limitations for legal challenges would apply to energy and mining projects (ENR's jurisdiction), as opposed to all infrastructure. We've seen that sort of thing turn off House Republicans before.
- It also doesn't include specific language on pipelines or any broader reforms to the Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act. Both are priorities that House Republicans might think they can address in their own permitting push next year.
- And to the likely chagrin of some Democrats, it doesn't have broad provisions to bolster community engagement, though it would let Interior "accept donations from renewable energy companies" for that purpose, per a committee summary.
The bottom line: "Even if this isn't something that we expect to see make it into law under this Congress, we know that this is starting a conversation about where are people's red lines, and what are the things that they really want," said Philip Rossetti, a senior fellow at R Street.
