On Wednesday, a group of senators did something rarely seen on the Hill these days: They passed transformative legislation out of committee with resounding bipartisan support.
The Manchin-Barrasso bipartisan permitting reform bill advanced with 15 senators voting in favor and only Sens. Bernie Sanders, Ron Wyden, Mazie Hirono and Josh Hawley against, breaking with traditional votes out of markups that usually pass or fail along party lines.
Sen. Joe Manchin said after the vote that he was excited by the positive reception and optimistic the bill could come for a full vote in the Senate before the end of the year. The Biden administration has not yet fully consulted on the bill and neither has House leadership, Manchin said.
The markup attracted an eager crowd of policy wonks and Hill staffers, many of whom said they were “excited,” “optimistic” and amazed that this day had come. Michael Skelly, the CEO of major transmission development company Grid United, flew into D.C. from Houston for the week of permitting discussions and told NOTUS that he was thrilled about the bill’s movement and that Grid United planned to lobby for its passage in front of the full Senate.
“I think we have a duty to explain what this means and why it’s important. Not just that we need it in spirit, but here’s how to do it,” Skelly said. “People everywhere get the need for this.”
The bill, which would dramatically speed up the process for energy projects, is broadly popular with clean energy developers. Companies that want to build new solar, wind, geothermal, power lines and other energy infrastructure have been attracted by billions of dollars in clean energy tax credits created by the IRA and infrastructure, but the difficult realities of permitting are stymieing much of the possible development.
Fossil fuel and mining groups have also cheered the many concessions to their interests, including a provision that would end the Biden administration pause on approvals for new export permits for liquefied natural gas.
That provision appears the most controversial for the progressives who opposed the bill during the markup. Sanders only came to the meeting to propose an amendment removing the LNG provision and quickly advocate for the bill’s failure before departing the committee room. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, have split with clean energy developers, decrying the bill as an effort to Trojan horse wins for the fossil fuel industry in the name of clean energy.
But Sen. Angus King, who has long encouraged and cheered the LNG export pause, broke with Sanders on the position during the markup, arguing that the sacrifice in the bill text was worth the result.
“We have to have the transmission changes in order to get to the clean energy future. It’s a bottleneck,” he said. “In my view, if we vote for this bill, it will get us enormous benefits in terms of emissions, and it will speed the transition. If we vote against, we will have a slower transition and fewer emissions reductions.”
As the meeting broke up, Sen. Martin Heinrich stayed behind to emphasize that the emissions reductions created by the bill would be many orders of magnitude higher than any emissions created by the fossil fuel concessions. He also bemoaned the 17 years it has taken to approve the permitting for a massive transmission line across his home state of New Mexico. “America frankly needs to be able to build big things again,” he said.
But while the LNG provisions might be the most controversial for Democrats, most of the actual time in the markup went to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who spoke repeatedly and at length to advocate for amendments that would speed up and improve hydropower permitting. She repeatedly challenged Manchin and her Republican colleagues as they tried to move forward with the bill. “I sound a little lecturey, and I am,” she said at one point after a long story about Alaska communities.
When she finally agreed to withdraw her amendments after a commitment to discuss language before the bill reached the full floor, Manchin’s sigh of relief was palpable. “Thank you so much,” he told her, and the packed markup room burst into laughter.
Several lobbyists and policy wonks told NOTUS that they expect this legislation could pass through the Senate after the November elections. While members in the House are considering related bipartisan proposals, no text or timelines have been released. The House bills are more likely to address the litigation and permitting problems that surround the National Environmental Policy Act, which is mostly beyond the authority of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
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Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.