October 12thththe Biden administration announced an “action plan” to accelerate infrastructure development following the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). [New Action Plan]This followed extensive debate on a permit reform bill drafted by Senator Manchin in connection with the IRA to speed up the permitting process for infrastructure projects.And it came the day after October 11thth Senator Manchin’s Letter to the White House on Procedures for Addressing Backlog of Energy Project Permits and Approvals [October 11, 2022 Manchin Letter].
The transition from fossil fuels to the ‘new energy economy’ requires building new infrastructure and updating existing infrastructure. This new infrastructure includes new transmission lines, energy storage facilities, pipelines for energy resilience, and renewable power generation. Of course, the Inflation Reduction Act allocates considerable resources to encourage the development of such facilities. But money alone is not enough to facilitate this energy transition. Reform permits are needed to accelerate the implementation of these projects. However, the exact form and content of such reforms remain a matter of debate.
The Biden administration’s action plan highlights “lack of data, lack of technology, and the need for increased capacity” as major obstacles to accelerating the development of the necessary infrastructure. However, in an attempt to avoid controversy related to permitting reforms, action plans are or may be undertaken by the federal, state, and private sectors, including technical guidance, project tracking, and workforce development. It simply catalogs guidance and training activities. Description of status quo activities and possible guidance and training activities is not a recipe for progress.
In contrast, Senator Manchin’s draft permit reform bill would address politically sensitive topics related to the scope and pace of permitting activity. These topics include setting deadlines for his NEPA reviews and environmental assessments of major energy and natural resource projects, coordinating interagency project reviews, dispute resolution mechanisms for project discrepancies, and deadlines for judicial appeals. will beOn his October 11thth In a letter to the White House, Senator Manchin stressed that the permitting agency must be properly staffed and that the Clean Water Act review needs to be clearly defined.
The discussion of licensing reform thus far suggests certain common interests as points of departure for further discussion. For example, there is little disagreement about properly staffing permitting agencies, coordinating environmental reviews by agencies, and completing the permitting process in a reasonable amount of time. Other more controversial issues, such as the scope of the Clean Water Act jurisdiction and a substantive review of NEPA, need to be addressed if real progress is to be made, but Manchin’s permit reform text The fact that there was not only opposition but also support from elements of government gives both parties reason for hope. Perhaps the message here is that while it will not be easy to allow reforms, compromises may be possible. With the new parliament meeting next year, we can only hope that we will have the opportunity to seek consensus.
