Permitting Bill Is a Fossil Fuel Wolf in Clean Energy Clothing
WASHINGTON – This week Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso announced a permitting reform bill - the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 - that would dramatically alter the processes for reviewing the impacts of energy projects in the United States.
The proposal includes limiting opportunities for communities to challenge projects, loosening oversight for drilling and mining projects, extending drilling permits and fast-tracking LNG permits, and several other provisions friendly to fossil fuel giants. The bill also includes several positive reforms for the accelerated development of transmission projects.
Following is a statement from Alexandra Adams, managing director of government affairs at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) in response:
"This bill is a giveaway for the oil and gas industry that will ramp up drilling and environmental destruction at a time when we need to be putting a hard stop to fossil fuels. We cannot afford to roll back so many of our bedrock environmental and community legal protections and offer a blank check to the oil and gas industry.”
“We need new solutions for permitting if we are going to meet our clean energy potential and address the climate challenge. But this is not it."
“While this bill would offer some steps forward on transmission reform, which we hope to help usher forward, this bill would altogether be a leap backward on climate, health, and justice if passed into law. The Senate should reject it and look toward alternative solutions already being considered.”
Background:
In 2023, NRDC released its roadmap to progressive permitting reform, “Down to the Wire: Progressive Permitting Reforms Will Accelerate Renewable Energy and Transmission Buildout and Help Meet U.S. Climate Targets.”
The report lays out a strategy for achieving this clean energy deployment that manages clean energy development and project opposition without gutting foundational environmental protections. This includes early community engagement, increased federal staffing to accelerate reviews and “smart from the start” approaches that identify appropriate areas for clean energy deployment.
The report provides a path to break through bottlenecks and strengthen engagement, without rolling back safeguards for frontline communities, ecosystems, and species.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).