Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Lawmakers look unlikely to include a permitting deal in the year-end spending bill after a series of setbacks late last week.
Why it matters: A failure to reach a deal would leave permitting — the effort to overhaul environmental laws to speed up energy projects — on uncertain ground heading into next year.
Driving the news: Lawmakers had been expected to release the final text of a continuing resolution Sunday as the prime vehicle for permitting and virtually everything else. But it's been delayed.
- The negotiating turmoil for permitting started Thursday, when Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper walked out on a negotiation and blamed Republicans for blowing up talks.
- Late Friday, a source close to the negotiations, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Axios that Speaker Mike Johnson had "pulled the plug" on talks. Johnson's office didn't respond to requests for comment.
Yes, but: Others say talks are still ongoing.
- "Anyone who's spent time in D.C. knows while there's still time, there's still opportunity. We're continuing to work in good faith," House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman said in a Friday night statement.
Zoom in: The fundamental disagreement is over how much to limit reviews and lawsuits under NEPA.
- The Manchin-Barrasso bill would establish a 150-day statute of limitations for NEPA lawsuits and a 180-day deadline to take action when a court sends a project back to an agency — but only for energy projects.
- Carper has said he would be willing to apply the judicial review provisions from that bill to other projects.
- Westerman's proposal, meanwhile, includes a 120-day statute of limitations and provisions that would limit which environmental impacts agencies can assess.
