Summer may be coming to a close, but the heat is still on Capitol Hill. With the House and Senate coming back into session in the coming weeks, it's a race to the finish as the November mid-term elections loom large on the calendar.

Before the Senate broke for recess, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) struck a deal with Democratic leadership to take up permitting reform in exchange for his support of the Inflation Reduction Act under the budget reconciliation process. The agreement to take up "comprehensive permitting reform legislation" remains undefined in both substance and timing.

Sen. Manchin might get Democrats to consider a separate bill to support more efficient and expedited permitting for energy and other infrastructure projects before the end of the year, or he might not. The Democratic majority in the House remains the biggest obstacle for permitting reform, but the Senate is no cakewalk.

Passing legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes. Any bill will need bipartisan support to get it across the finish line by October 1, which is the end of the fiscal year and the time when members’ attention will shift to the upcoming elections - not legislating.

Right now, it's unclear whether Sen. Manchin has enough support within his own party's ranks to build a bipartisan coalition of support. We will closely watch Sen. Manchin's efforts as they develop.

In other Hill news, congratulations to Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who came out on top in the special election to fill the legendary Congressman for All Alaska Don Young's House seat.

Congressman Young passed in March, after holding Alaska's House seat for 49 years. Congresswoman Peltola, the first Alaska Native woman elected to Congress, will hold the seat until January while also running in the general election to be Alaska' next Congressperson for the full two-year term. Congressman Young, a member of the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus, was a staunch supporter of common-sense conservation efforts and responsible resource development. We hope to see the same passion in his successor.

On a more personal level, we are pleased to welcome new Executive Board member Scott Segal to the ConservAmerica team. Scott, a partner at the DC-based law firm Bracewell and an expert in the legislative and regulatory processes, has more than two decades of experience across a broad range of issues; he holds particular expertise in energy and the environment and natural resources. Scott has repeatedly testified before Congress and administrative agencies on energy and environmental policy matters. Welcome, Scott!

We wish everyone a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend and hope you all enjoy these last few beautiful days of summer. Until next time!

August Highlights

Commentary

The following commentary by Brian Yablonski, CEO of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center, originally ran in The Hill on Aug. 19

Permitting reform push should include forest restoration

With President Biden’s signing Tuesday of the Inflation Reduction Act, attention will quickly turn to an energy permitting reform bill requested by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as a condition for his support of the climate, health care and tax bill’s passage. 

Rather than treating permitting reform as a “hold your nose” trade-off to attain sweeping spending intended to address climate change, environmentalists and climate advocates should embrace this opportunity to secure urgently needed permitting relief for conservation projects that help the environment.

Take the wildfire crisis, which poses enormous threats to wildlife habitat, air and water quality, and our climate. California’s wildfires released 112 million metric tons of carbon in a single year alone, the equivalent of adding 25.4 million cars to our roads. They also have decimated forest carbon offset projects, choked the air with smoke, scorched endangered species habitat and national parks, and killed 19 percent of all remaining giant sequoias. 

Despite this impact, a clunky permitting process hamstrings our ability to mitigate these megafires and protect our forests. Enacting reasonable, bipartisan reforms is essential to tackling this crisis and should be part of any conservation-minded permitting reform bill.

There are things we can do today to mitigate these harms going forward. Proactive forest restoration, including ecologically responsible prescribed burns and mechanical thinning of brush and other excess fuels, can make fires less catastrophic when they occur. 

Read the full commentary in The Hill.

Parting Shot

We’ll leave you with a few shots from our August on the water, including fishing in Alaska at the Kenai River Sportsmen’s Association annual Ted Stevens Kenai Classic conservation fundraiser with friends old and new. Flying over Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. And exploring the Elk River in British Columbia to look at cross-border water quality and fish mortality.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference,” – Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

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