Senate votes down Manchin’s permitting reform package

A Senate vote Dec. 15 ended for this year the efforts of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to promote moderate reform of federal permitting for energy infrastructure.

On a procedural vote that required 60 votes to succeed, Manchin’s package of changes to expedite permitting received a 47-47 vote, with six Republicans not voting. The opposition came from 37 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Republicans had criticized the proposals for not going far enough, while liberal Democrats have said they go too far.

Manchin’s package took the form of a proposed amendment to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate passed that bill after the amendment was blocked.

Manchin and leaders in both parties presumably had a good idea in advance of how the vote would play out, given the penchant for sponsoring lawmakers and party leaders to canvas fellow lawmakers in advance of action on a must-pass bill. Recognizing a lack of enthusiasm for his package, the West Virginia senator unveiled a modified version of it several days before the vote (OGJ Online, Dec. 7, 2022).

In a statement after the vote, Manchin blamed the failure of his amendment on Republican leaders playing politics. The Republicans “voted down a bill that would have completed the Mountain Valley Pipeline and quickly delivered natural gas to the market,” he said.

That natural gas pipeline, originating in West Virginia, is stalled by litigation though it is, according to Manchin, 93% complete, with 283 miles of it built and only 20 more miles to go. An effort to expedite that pipeline’s construction was a central feature of the proposed amendment.

A deal done

Manchin negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), other Democrats, and White House officials through much of the year on a tax and spending bill, which was passed in early August as the Inflation Reduction Act.

In return for his vote on that bill, Manchin received a promise from Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that they would push for a vote on his permitting reforms in September and then, when that failed, in December. The White House also went along with it, and President Biden issued a statement of support Dec. 15.

“I support Senator Manchin’s permitting reform proposal as a way to cut Americans’ energy bills, promote US energy security, and boost our ability to get energy projects built and connected to the grid,” Biden said.

“It is critical to improve the permitting process so we can produce and deliver energy to consumers in all parts of the country,” the president said.

There was no guarantee the House would have accepted the Manchin amendment even if the Senate had agreed to it.

In 2023, Republicans will be the majority in the House and might show more interest in permitting reform than House Democrats have, although they are well aware that dramatic changes to the National Environmental Policy Act and other big environmental laws would not get past the Democratic majority in the Senate and would not be signed by Biden.