Daily Energy Insider (August 1, 2024) – The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday passed a bipartisan permitting reform package that bill sponsors say would bolster American energy security.
The committee voted 15-4 to advance the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, S. 4753, introduced on July 23 by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) to accelerate the permitting process for all types of critical energy and mineral projects in the United States. The bill advanced to the full Senate for action.
Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, reiterated the importance of the legislation with regards to accelerating the permitting process for American energy security and emission reductions.
“This is everything that’s needed in this country to make sure that we’re able to deliver dependable, reliable and affordable energy in the cleanest fashion possible, realizing that we have to have dispatchable power now, but also realize that we’re investing and we have to bring forward the transmission to basically move those electrons in the cleanest fashion with renewables. So we’re doing everything we can to have a balanced approach,” Manchin said.
The bill is a targeted set of consequential reforms within the committee’s jurisdiction that will not only boost U.S. energy and mineral production, but also help lower costs for Americans, Barrasso said prior to the bill’s markup.
“It will strengthen our economic and national security and the security of our allies around the world,” the senator said. “Our bill will guarantee future access to oil and natural gas resources on federal lands and waters. It will permanently end President Biden’s reckless ban on new liquefied natural gas exports. It will fix the disastrous Rosemont decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“And it will ensure that new transmission lines meaningfully improve electric reliability and actually benefit customers,” Barrasso added. “Our bill includes a series of reforms for onshore oil and gas leasing and permitting.”
