US Senator Dan Sullivan says White House ‘can’t pick favorites’ on the issue
If US Senator Joe Manchin has his wish granted, Congress will tackle permitting reform for the US energy sector this year.
Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said Monday at CERAWeek by S&P Global that changing the nation’s byzantine energy permitting process “has to be done.” He said updates to the US approvals process were included in an earlier draft of the Inflation Reduction Act but were thrown out because no funds were found to back it.
However, Manchin said the topic is back on the table this year for the energy committee. Without offering specifics, he said he hopes to finalise a reform plan “before we go out on the longest recess.”
“But there’s work that’s going on,” Manchin added. “Let me tell you one thing. We are so close. We are so close. And I don’t want to build up anybody’s anticipation or hope up. But we are so close.”
Manchin said the Biden administration is generally supportive of energy permitting reform.
That sentiment was backed by John Podesta, a White House senior adviser for international climate policy who also spoke Monday at CERAWeek.
Podesta said the executive branch has done “everything we could do” to speed up permitting, including deploying $1 billion in IRA funds to beef up federal review personnel and sending $300 million to states to streamline their permitting processes.
“There’s more to do,” Podesta said. “I’m not particularly high on the productivity level of the current Congress.”
US Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, is working with Manchin on the issue. At CERAWeek, he gently chided Podesta, saying the White House adviser was only focused on speeding up permitting for renewable energy.
“I am all of the above,” Sullivan said. “Oil, gas, wind, solar, but you can’t pick favourites.”
