Pennsylvania’s booming natural gas economy could get a boost if a permitting reform bill passed by a key committee can make it through Congress. And with a Biden-Harris administration trying to change the conversation about energy policy and fracking bans, the timing may be fortuitous.
The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, co-sponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week on a bipartisan 15-4 vote.
“After more than a year of bipartisan negotiations with chairman Manchin, we are now one step closer to getting the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act signed into law. Our bill is a true all-of-the-above energy policy – targeted, timely, and good for all Americans,” said Barrasso.
Advocates for U.S. energy independence say that without speeding up the permitting process, the country will never have the raw materials it needs to achieve that national security goal.
For example, it takes 29 years for a mine on American soil to be developed and start production, according to a survey by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The only country that takes longer is the African nation of Zambia. It placed 118 on the 2023 Global Innovation Index. The U.S. was ranked third.
“The status quo on mine permitting is no longer an option; the time to reform our permitting process is now,” said National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan.
Manchin, a moderate Democrat who recently left his party to become an independent, highlights the vital role of reform for green energy projects across the U.S., too. Wind and solar technology require minerals like copper, lithium and rare earth elements, many of which can be mined in America.
“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,” Manchin said.
The permitting fix is finding support from a diverse group of organizations who are often on opposite sides of policy debates.
The pro-free-market group Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN) praised the plan as “an all-of-the-above approach to energy infrastructure development.
“It’s accelerating the permitting process for energy projects across the board – renewables like wind and solar that are vital for our nation’s future and the traditional sources of energy that still form the foundation of reliable, affordable energy in this country,” said Craig Stevens, GAIN Coalition spokesman and former senior advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman.
The Environmental Defense Fund praised the bill’s plan to make it easier to build out solar and wind energy projects that have stalled due to permitting delays. Those delays have been a harsh reality for green energy groups who want to push the U.S. toward a zero-fossil-fuel future.
It can take up to 10 years for renewable energy projects to receive all necessary permits. The permitting process for traditional energy projects can take decades due to red tape and lawsuits.
That is one of the motives for congressional Democrats, who want to run for reelection on the green tech investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, to support permitting reform.
Closer to home, the bill could end up being a model for legislation in Pennsylvania.
State Sen. Eugene Yaw (R-Bradford) told DVJournal he plans to study the bill to see if there’s a way to implement it at the state level. “We may take a real hard look at doing something like that.”
And while he wasn’t specifically talking about energy projects, Gov. Josh Shapiro entered office pledging to make permitting reform a priority. He even launched a “money-back guarantee” on applications for a state permits, licenses or certifications, promising they would be processed within a set time or the application fee would be returned.
Andre Beliveau with the Commonwealth Foundation told DVJournal that while politicians can chant “Drill, baby, drill,” permitting reform deals with a more immediate problem: lack of energy infrastructure. More oil and gas is useless if you can’t move it to the markets where it’s needed.
And right now, “There’s very little room to move new or additional product down the pipe,” Beliveau said.
Permitting reform has failed multiple times in the state legislature. Yaw blamed politics. He said politicians in Harrisburg don’t want to confront bureaucrats at the Department of Environmental Protection for dragging their feet out of fear of environmentalists.
“They’re a minority and I think we need to do what’s best for the majority of the people in the commonwealth,” he said.
President Joe Biden hasn’t pledged to sign the bill if Congress sends it to his desk, but the White House is reportedly open to the legislation based on what it has seen so far.
And then there’s the politics of the 2024 presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, has a record of supporting anti-fossil fuel policies that are problematic in a state like Pennsylvania. In the past, she repeatedly pledged to ban fracking, a position her campaign says she has now abandoned — though Harris has not answered questions about the policy herself.
Will a Biden-Harris White House want to support a bill that greenlights billions in green energy infrastructure, while simultaneously sending a signal to Pennsylvania and other fossil-fuel-rich states that Harris is willing to compromise? Or will pressure from green groups that oppose any new fossil fuel development push her to oppose this bipartisan plan?
Manchin is hopeful.
“Hopefully, we’ll have it done before the end of the year,” he said.
