Manchin’s permitting reform effort dead for 2024
Capito, Justice support new push

Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., left, talks with Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., right, during a 2023 Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo)
CHARLESTON — At the 11th-hour Monday night, a permitting reform package being shepherded by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin before he retires at the end of the month fell apart. But soon-to-be senior Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and incoming Sen. Jim Justice said permitting reform efforts will continue next year.
In a statement Monday night, Manchin announced a bipartisan effort between lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives to include a permitting reform package in a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through mid-March failed.
“It’s a shame that our country is losing this monumental opportunity to advance the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reform bill that has strong support in the United States Senate,” said Manchin, I-W.Va. “Unfortunately, this is just another example of politics getting in the way of doing what’s best for the country. Leadership means you must lead and leading means making hard decisions and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good for all of our constituents.”
Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, worked with ranking Republican Committee member John Barrasso of Wyoming for the last several months on this new permitting reform package, called the Energy Permitting Reform Act.
The act would shorten the timeline for judicial review of energy and mineral permitting projects while accelerating federal decision-making for leasing of energy projects on federal lands. It would allow for at least one lease sale for offshore wind and offshore oil and gas projects per year from 2025 to 2029 subject to limitations.
The act would reform current backstop authority for interstate electric transmission line and require interregional planning. It would limit how electric companies allocate expenses to customers for transmission line projects, as well as other items to speed up transmission projects. The act would provide the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation opportunity to comment regarding issues of electric reliability to federal agencies considering projects.
According to Politico, Manchin was working across the aisle with House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark.
But in his Monday statement, Manchin placed the blame on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Manchin said Johnson was taking an early win away from incoming Republican President Donald Trump, though any continuing resolution passed by Congress would be signed by outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden.
“By taking permitting off the table for this Congress, Speaker Johnson and House Republican Leadership have done a disservice to the incoming Trump Administration, which has been focused on strengthening our energy security and will now be forced to operate with their hands tied behind their backs when trying to issue permits for all of the types of energy and infrastructure projects our country needs,” Manchin said.
In previous statements, Capito had expressed cautious optimism that Manchin’s Energy Permitting Reform Act could make it to the finish line before the end of the year. Speaking to press Tuesday afternoon from Capitol Hill, Capito said she believes there is a bipartisan desire to do permitting reform next year.
“Well, it’s still going to be very much in demand. That’s the thing, to do permitting is still going to be one of the number one issues for a lot of people,” Capito said. “And it’s not just a fossil fuel thing, or a pipeline thing. It’s renewables, it’s broadband, it’s construction, it’s highways. So it’s still going to have broad desires. Because it’s still going to be in high demand, I wouldn’t count it out, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. President [Trump] is going to want it.”
Capito, who ranks fourth in incoming Republican majority leadership in the Senate, will take the chairmanship next year of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where she currently is the ranking Republican member. With Manchin’s third term ending on Jan. 3 after declining to run for reelection, Capito will also be the senior senator for West Virginia.
Capito will be joined next year by Justice, who won the election for Senate in November. Justice, wrapping up his second and final term as governor, said Tuesday morning during his weekly administration briefing that he spoke with Capito recently about doing permitting reform next year.
“We have got to have real-life permitting reform. I mean, that’s all there is to it,” Justice said. “Thank God Donald Trump was elected; thank God we flipped the Senate and thank God we’ve held on to the House. You’re going to see a lot of things change and hopefully we’ll be able to put this country back on the tracks that made us great…Let’s try to do something about it.”
Justice complained about the federal backlog on permitting for infrastructure and energy projects, which can sometimes take years to be approved or rejected.
“We can’t figure out what to do on anything without a year, two years, three years, and sometimes in excess of three years in a permitting process that just goes on and on through agency after agency after agency with many, many folks purposefully just churning it,” Justice continued.
Manchin warned his Republican colleague in the Senate next year that permitting reform could still have troubles. Republicans picked up a 53-seat majority in the 100-member U.S. Senate, but to move forward with any vote, the Republican majority will still need seven votes in order the clear cloture, which could bottle up any future permitting reform effort.
“Meaningful permitting reform will continue to be subject to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold next year and cannot be done by executive action alone,” Manchin warned.