Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) will meet with ranking member John Barrasso (R-WY) to talk about permitting reform this week, the latest movement on an otherwise stalled legislative priority.
The Wyoming Republican told the Washington Examiner that he was planning on meeting with Manchin in an informal one-on-one meeting to broadly discuss the issue. When asked specifically what the meeting would touch on, Barrasso replied, “All of it,” in response to questions about transmission and judicial reform.
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“There’s incentive to get it done,” he said. “We need opportunity to transmit energy, and we need more American energy to transmit. And you need to have both of those together. So we need to make sure there’s not winners and losers.”
Sweeping permitting reform is an area that could prove ripe for bipartisan support if done correctly. While Barrasso acknowledged he and Manchin often agree on energy policy, he stated that “there are a number of members on Democrat side of the aisle that don’t see eye-to-eye with Sen. Manchin,” acknowledging that the pair would need additional buy-in to move anything forward.
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Movement on comprehensive permitting reform, long a priority for Manchin, has largely stalled in Congress, with both parties disagreeing on what reform could look like. Republicans have been looking at dramatic changes to the National Environmental Policy Act to help speed up the permitting approval process, but Democrats are divided on the issue, with some arguing that it would help build out fossil fuel projects. Several Democrats are supporting building out high voltage transmission but are encountering resistance from Republicans on whether or not taxpayers would foot the bill for these projects.
