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Manchin's Pipeline Payoff Strangles Future Permitting Reform
Negotiations

The Fiscal Responsibility Act approved several items on fossil fuel
industry wish lists, with nothing for renewable energy. That kills
leverage for a broader deal.

 

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

By Jarod Facundo

**** Tucked inside the Fiscal Responsibility Act
<[link removed]>
(FRA), which purportedly focuses on federal spending, were some critical
handouts for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), including an expedited approval
process for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

The 303-mile-long natural gas pipeline, marred in legal battles from
environmental justice advocates
<[link removed]>
and landowners
<[link removed]>,
runs through West Virginia to Virginia. Its approval, and the
elimination of judicial review, gives Manchin a legislative
accomplishment to tout at home. That it clashes with the Biden
administration's purported climate agenda is probably also a plus for
Manchin.

The pipeline's inclusion,

**The Washington Post**reported
<[link removed]>
earlier this week, was a returned favor from the White House in exchange
for Manchin's vote for the Inflation Reduction Act. Other reports from
Fox
<[link removed]>,
according to people close to negotiations, suggest that House
Republicans led the way on the MVP, which Manchin helped clinch only
toward the end of negotiations. One source told Fox: "Manchin could have
asked to put MVP in any of the Dem-only must-pass bills they passed in
the last two years. He didn't because he couldn't get it done."

It doesn't make much sense for House Republicans to gift wrap an
accomplishment to Manchin, who could be the deciding vote for a
Democratic Senate if he wins re-election next year. But there were other
reasons why the GOP might have seen it in their interest to give up the
pipeline: The political turn of events that passage will set in motion
could hold back the cause of clean energy for years, in a boost for the
fossil fuel industry.

For Manchin, the Pipeline Payoff, plus rollbacks to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), fulfills key components from his
earlier proposed stand-alone permitting reform bill, known as the
Building American Energy Security Act of 2023. Manchin was promised a
vote on this bill last year, which ended up not happening due to lack of
support. The White House believes that including the pipeline and the
NEPA changes in the FRA fulfills that commitment.

When Manchin reintroduced
<[link removed]>
his bill in early May, he called it a "starting point" for permitting
reform negotiations. But now the Fiscal Responsibility Act has
cannibalized Manchin's bill, enacting primarily the elements
attractive to conservatives and pro-fossil fuel interests, while leaving
the key ask for clean-energy advocates behind. This leaves environmental
justice groups and progressives without leverage for future permitting
reform negotiations.

Most of the NEPA changes are relatively minor, and several involve
initiatives that the Biden administration has already been implementing.
But they do include timeline cuts for the most thorough NEPA reviews,
known as environmental impact statements. The longest NEPA reviews can
take up to four and a half years
<[link removed]>,
but the FRA cuts the maximum time to two years for strict reviews and
one year for most other studies. Agencies can ask for an extension, but
project sponsors can sue
<[link removed]>
for expedited approval. Even if that suit is successful, the agency
would have an additional 90 days. Other changes include arbitrary page
limits for NEPA studies.

**Read all of our debt ceiling coverage here**
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All of these changes are expected to happen without additional funding
to NEPA agencies; in fact, the agencies that carry out NEPA are likely
to see spending freezes or even cuts under the spending cap in the FRA.
In other words, the changes create near-impossible expectations for
every federal agency that works on a NEPA review: Do more with less
money.

Advocates told the

**Prospect** that, by clearing the way on MVP and NEPA reforms, Manchin
has gained additional leverage for other climate and environmental
policy priorities, particularly around vacant positions across the
Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). "[Manchin's] got other
specific fights on definitions from EV tax credits to EPA initiatives to
curtail greenhouse gas emissions," Tyson Slocum, energy program director
for Public Citizen, told the

**Prospect**.

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Manchin has the power to block nominees from hearings or deny support
needed to get nominees onto the Senate floor. He has publicly stated
that he would oppose all EPA nominees
<[link removed]>
until the Biden administration curtailed its "radical climate agenda."
And last year, Manchin denied FERC chair Richard Glick a hearing
<[link removed]>
for his renomination, leading him to have to step down from the agency.
This has created a 2-2 split on the agency, keeping it from its existing
permitting reform efforts.

The administration did not appear to secure promises from Manchin for
future votes in exchange for the pipeline. The White House declined to
comment on when they would announce a nominee for the vacant
commissioner seat at FERC. At time of writing, Manchin's office did
not respond on whether he would schedule hearings for the consideration
of the White House's EPA nominees.

In exchange for the NEPA alterations and the Pipeline Payoff, Democrats
received a study on transmission line expansion that won't be finished
for years. Additionally, the
<[link removed]>Post
<[link removed]>reported
<[link removed]>
that according to Rob Gramlich, president of the energy consulting group
Grid Strategies, the legislative language contained "technical
problems," suggesting that it may not even survive in the long run. The
Electric Reliability Organization has 18 months to complete the
transmission study and present it to FERC. It would then be available
for public comment, and up to a year after the public comment period,
the study's conclusions would be presented to Congress for final
approval. Everyone involved in the process knows that a study is
Washington-speak for not actually doing anything.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has reportedly given his word to President
Biden to engage in discussions for a broader permitting reform down the
road. But as Heatmap's Robinson Meyer
<[link removed]>
has explained, it's hard to see how that can come together now. The
elements of a permitting deal that would be attractive to Republicans
and Manchin have already passed. Meanwhile, one of the most critical
components for connecting renewable energy to the grid was kicked down
the road. What Democrats and climate advocates would have to give up in
a compromise would likely be too great, or would nullify the climate
benefits of transmission reform.

As Dana Johnson, senior director of strategy and federal policy for WE
ACT for Environmental Justice, told the

**Prospect**: "I'm not sure that we have a bargaining chip and I'm
not sure that anyone will come back to the table and work on a
stand-alone [permitting reform] bill ... There is no incentive."

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