WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday released an energy permitting bill to speed fossil fuel projects and power transmission for renewable energy.
The bill is expected to be attached to a measure to temporarily fund the government that Congress must pass before Oct. 1. Manchin’s staff told reporters the senator believes he has the 60 votes needed to pass.
The legislation would require the federal government to issue permits for Equitrans Midstream Corp’s long-delayed $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline to take natural gas between West Virginia, Manchin’s home state, and Virginia.
It would require U.S. President Joe Biden to designate 25 energy projects of strategic national importance for speedy federal review. The bill also sets a two-year target for environmental reviews on energy projects that need to be completed by more than one federal agency.
Progressive lawmakers and environmental groups have been concerned that the bill would speed fossil fuel projects while undermining U.S. environmental laws.
While the bill would speed up the process of the National Environmental Policy Act, which required reviews of major projects “it doesn’t amend the underlying statutes,” a member of Manchin’s staff told reporters in a call.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Richard Cowan; editing by Diane Craft and David Gregorio)
