If environmental groups and the fossil fuel industry agree on anything, it’s that getting approval for new energy production projects takes too long. A bill in the US Senate could speed it up.
The proposal was co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY). The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved it last week but it is unclear if Congress will vote on it this year.
Reaction to the Energy Permitting Reform Act has been mixed.
Some environmental groups, like Sierra Club and the Natural Resource Defense Council, oppose the measure to streamline approval of energy projects because it makes too many concessions to the fossil fuel industry.
Among other things, the bill allows at least one offshore oil and gas lease sale per year through 2029.
But other environmental groups supporting the bill said the benefits to climate-friendly energy projects outweigh the costs.
Mary Ann Renz is with the Kalamazoo chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which supports the bill. She admitted it’s not perfect.
“But we have to operate in reality, and in a reality where in order to get anything passed in a Congress as divided as we have, there have to be some compromises.”
Renz said it is likely Congress will change the bill before it's finally passed.
“Once the bill is introduced and before it's passed, there is a lot of change that's made, 'sausage making,'” Renz said.
“What one person wants in it is added and what another person wants out of it is deleted. So, those changes can be made and we might move closer to what would be an ideal bill.”
Mia Breznau is a climate activist from Kalamazoo and Michigan’s 2023 Youth Climate Leader of the Year. Brexnau agreed the bill isn’t perfect but likes the fact that it has bipartisan support.
“That’s a really good thing about this bill. The other good thing is when we do reform this permitting process, clean energy is the main one that's going to benefit. Will it also help other types of energy? Yes.”
Breznau said green energy is more likely to be tied up in litigation than oil and gas projects.
“A court will have to review the permit, come up with a decision and then a new permit will be issued. And then they can file a lawsuit again. Then it will have to go back to the court. Then they file a new lawsuit. Back to the court. And it just keeps going down that litigation doom cycle which really holds up those clean energy projects,” Breznau said.
If passed by Congress, the bill addresses the problem with litigation by shortening the window for lawsuits from six years to five months. Breznau said that is good, but added that five months may be “too short” to understand the potential environmental impacts.
Incoming Western Michigan University freshman, Harper Horvath, plans to continue in college with the climate activism she started in high school with the Ardea Youth Climate Coalition.
Horvath summed up her support for a faster permitting process gained even if the current bill, as written, becomes law.
“If this is passed, and clean energy is more easily implemented into our state and our local areas, that would diminish carbon admissions.”
