Pirate's Cove

In order to get the utterly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, which was really just Build Back Better version 4, passed with the support of Joe Manchin, Chuck Schumer promised him permitting reform. I wonder how that will work

Democrat calls for stand-alone vote on permitting deal, saying he doesn’t feel ‘obligation’ to vote for it

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told The Hill on Friday that he will push for the permitting deal between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Democratic leadership to be a standalone vote — rather than attached to another vehicle that may incentivize more of his colleagues to vote for it.

Grijalva said that he and a handful of colleagues planned to make a request on Friday that the vote — on an agreement he fears will weaken environmental standards — be a standalone.

He said he hopes the reforms are not attached to must-pass legislation such as a continuing resolution, which keeps the government funded temporarily in the absence of an appropriations bill.

“We’re going to start early to urge a separate vote,” said Grijalva, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and former co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Why a separate vote? Because Democrats do not want permitting reform for oil, gas, and, to a small degree coal, to happen. They do not want to streamline permits. They do not want new permits. They don’t want existing permits to have a chance. They won’t give up their own use of fossil fuels, of course. If they have a separate vote they can kill it off, rather than seeing it jammed up in some other legislation. So, the chances of Manchin getting what he wanted in order to get his vote for the IRA are low. How many Democrats will vote for it in the House? Will there be enough? How about the Senate? Can it get the votes? If so, will Biden sign it? Heck, Democrats might slow walk it and let the clock run out.

He acknowledged that there is a deal between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to advance the permitting reform deal, but said he doesn’t feel an “obligation” to uphold a deal that he did not help negotiate.

“I don’t feel an obligation … to support the deal,” Grijalva said. “I didn’t shake hands, I wasn’t part of the negotiations.”

When Manchin and Schumer announced they had reached a deal on the climate and tax legislation, they also agreed to take up reforms to the environmental reviews that are required in order to permit energy or other construction projects.

Good job, Joe. You sold out. Should have demanded the permitting be in the IRA, though, it might not have passed reconciliation. And even if passed, it doesn’t mean that the courts and the federal bureaucrats will allow streamlined permitting, as this Salon piece points out. Especially for the Mountain Valley Pipeline

While many of these permitting reforms stand to benefit both fossil fuel producers and clean energy providers, one provision stood out for its clear benefit to a group of oil and gas companies. The summary includes a requirement to “complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” a 303-mile pipeline that delivers natural gas from northwestern West Virginia — Manchin’s home state — to southern Virginia.

But whether Congressional intervention can help the pipeline cross the finish line is unclear. The one-page summary requires “relevant agencies to take all necessary actions to permit the construction and operation of the Mountain Valley pipeline” and “give the D.C. Circuit jurisdiction over any further litigation.” (A change in venue may help the pipeline developers who have been repeatedly rebuffed in the Fourth Circuit court.)

It’ll probably never happen. A separate vote in the Senate a week ago was shot down, with only Republicans and Manchin supporting it. You sold out West Virginia and the middle and working classes for nothing, Joe.