The prospect of a bipartisan deal to speed up energy permitting is growing dim as negotiators run short on both time and legislative vehicles, writes Kelsey Brugger. Lawmakers have been trying to overhaul the nation’s energy permitting laws for years. After countless false starts, a glimmer of hope emerged this summer with a bipartisan proposal from independent Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. The bill aims to streamline the permitting process for adding energy to the grid, whether it's clean power or fossil fuels — a process that can take years (almost 20, in some instances). While both Democrats and Republicans are in favor of such a move in general, the devil is in the details. Republicans want to retool the National Environmental Policy Act to speed up environmental reviews for fossil fuel projects and shrink the window for judicial review. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware — a key Democrat in negotiations as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee — told Kelsey that some of those asks are “a bridge or two too far.” Still, he added, “we’re going to keep talking.” For their part, Democrats are eager to streamline the build-out of long-range interstate power lines that carry solar and wind power from rural areas to city centers (a move that could embolden federal regulators over state planners, which Republicans say they oppose). Some Democrats are increasingly willing to trade perks for oil and gas to get transmission language in law in the short time before Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. This week, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to essentially dispose of any environmental review process for anyone investing a billion dollars or more into energy infrastructure projects. “GET READY TO ROCK!!!” he said in a Truth Social post. Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California, who has long been against changes to NEPA, told Kelsey he’s “a lot more open this year than I am heading into next year.” “I think next year, a lot of this is going to be force-fed [to] us,” he said. But they have little time to come to an agreement. And key players have expressed doubt that the negotiations will result in a deal by the end of the year. House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said talks are not ready to be elevated to the congressional leadership level at this point. And House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said a deal would require “real permitting reform beyond what we’ve seen so far.” “It’s very doubtful we do anything in the end of the year,” said West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
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