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Ed Markey opposes Manchin push to include permitting reform in stopgap funding bill
On the House side, a lot of the opposition has come from Democrats, with nearly 80 of them opposing the idea of tying the funding measure to the permitting changes.https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3646852-markey-opposes-manchin-push-to-include-permitting-reform-in-stopgap-funding-bill/
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is joining a group of liberal House members in opposing Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) push to pass changes to the environmental review process in a stopgap funding bill.
Markey became the second Democratic-caucusing senator to call for the issues to be separated. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has previously expressed opposition to the West Virginia senator’s reforms.
Democratic leadership promised Manchin they would pass changes to the country’s permitting system to expedite the approval of both fossil and renewable energy projects in exchange for his vote on their climate, tax and health care bill.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he would include such changes in a temporary funding measure that would prevent a government shutdown.
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5 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
in general.
Manchin (with help from Sinema) already steamrollered Biden and almost all the rest of our Democratic congressional caucus on the BIF and the BBB (what became the IRA), gutting around 85% of the two bills' original Biden new spend frameworks. He now wants to do even more damage. He is not entitled to always get his way, as much as he may think he is.
https://aboutblaw.com/4ht
This draft of Manchin's side deal on permitting is stamped: "Draft - API" (American Petroleum Institute).
(In case you were wondering who is calling the shots here)
https://aboutblaw.com/4iu
much more at that pdf link
Manchin (with help from Sinema) already steamrollered Biden and almost all the rest of our Democratic congressional caucus on the BIF and the BBB (what became the IRA), gutting around 85% of the two bills' original Biden new spend frameworks. He now wants to do even more damage. He is not entitled to always get his way, as much as he may think he is.
Here’s What’s Wrong With Manchin’s Side Deal to the Inflation Reduction Act
In an impassioned call to allies in the national climate movement, a community organizer explains: “We in Appalachia are done with being a sacrifice zone.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/manchin-appalachia-inflation-reduction-act/
ELLISTON, VA.—Appalachia won’t be thrown under the bus in a side deal to climate legislation. That’s why we’re going to the capital next week, for the “Appalachian Resistance Comes to DC” rally, on September 8. Our message: We’re done with being a sacrifice zone. If you care about climate, you’ve got to care about us too. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s also the only way we can get better climate policies going forward. The wheelers and dealers who negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act need to work with those of us on the ground who lead this fight, rather than against us.
The side deal proposed by Senator Joe Manchin includes the undermining of laws that protect us from the fossil fuel industry. Manchin also wants Congress to fast-track his pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Half-completed, the pipeline has been stopped in its tracks by effective mobilization on the ground and in the courts. I have played a small part in this. I am a single mother and grandmother. I clean houses during the day and a local doctor’s office at night. I spend every spare moment resisting the pipeline because it would carry fracked gas close to me and my neighbors in Montgomery County, Va., endangering our community even though the gas is not meant for us.
snip
In an impassioned call to allies in the national climate movement, a community organizer explains: “We in Appalachia are done with being a sacrifice zone.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/manchin-appalachia-inflation-reduction-act/
ELLISTON, VA.—Appalachia won’t be thrown under the bus in a side deal to climate legislation. That’s why we’re going to the capital next week, for the “Appalachian Resistance Comes to DC” rally, on September 8. Our message: We’re done with being a sacrifice zone. If you care about climate, you’ve got to care about us too. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s also the only way we can get better climate policies going forward. The wheelers and dealers who negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act need to work with those of us on the ground who lead this fight, rather than against us.
The side deal proposed by Senator Joe Manchin includes the undermining of laws that protect us from the fossil fuel industry. Manchin also wants Congress to fast-track his pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Half-completed, the pipeline has been stopped in its tracks by effective mobilization on the ground and in the courts. I have played a small part in this. I am a single mother and grandmother. I clean houses during the day and a local doctor’s office at night. I spend every spare moment resisting the pipeline because it would carry fracked gas close to me and my neighbors in Montgomery County, Va., endangering our community even though the gas is not meant for us.
snip
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/08/01/manchin-pipeline-drilling-permit/
The side deal would set new two-year limits, or maximum timelines, for environmental reviews for “major” projects, the summary says. It would also aim to streamline the government processes for deciding approvals for energy projects by centralizing decision-making with one lead agency, the summary adds. The bill would also attempt to clear the way for the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would transport Appalachian shale gas about 300 miles from West Virginia to Virginia. This pipeline is a key priority of Manchin’s.
Other provisions would limit legal challenges to energy projects and give the Energy Department more authority to approve electric transmission lines that are deemed to be “in the national interest,” according to the document. One provision in the agreement could make it harder for government agencies to deny new approvals based on certain environmental impacts that are not directly caused by the project itself, said Sean Marotta, a partner at the Hogan Lovells law firm who represents pipeline companies.
The side deal would set new two-year limits, or maximum timelines, for environmental reviews for “major” projects, the summary says. It would also aim to streamline the government processes for deciding approvals for energy projects by centralizing decision-making with one lead agency, the summary adds. The bill would also attempt to clear the way for the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would transport Appalachian shale gas about 300 miles from West Virginia to Virginia. This pipeline is a key priority of Manchin’s.
Other provisions would limit legal challenges to energy projects and give the Energy Department more authority to approve electric transmission lines that are deemed to be “in the national interest,” according to the document. One provision in the agreement could make it harder for government agencies to deny new approvals based on certain environmental impacts that are not directly caused by the project itself, said Sean Marotta, a partner at the Hogan Lovells law firm who represents pipeline companies.
https://aboutblaw.com/4ht
Link to tweet
This draft of Manchin's side deal on permitting is stamped: "Draft - API" (American Petroleum Institute).
(In case you were wondering who is calling the shots here)
https://aboutblaw.com/4iu
much more at that pdf link
