Manchin Says He May Need 20 GOP Votes for Energy-Permitting Plan

Manchin said he was hopeful Republican West Virginia colleague Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who introduced a GOP permitting reform bill that has 46 GOP co-sponsors earlier this week, would be able to convince 15 to 20 Republicans to vote for his bill, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said would be attached to must-pass government funding legislation.

“That’s the only way it’s going to happen,” Manchin told reporters. “She got 40-plus Republicans to join her. She’s just got to get 20 of them to follow her.”

Capito indicated in a statement that she may be unwilling to provide votes for the plan she hasn’t seen and didn’t negotiate.

“Now the onus is on me to provide support for something I had no hand in and still don’t know what it is?” Capito said. “You just can’t operate like that.”

The legislation, which has yet to be unveiled, could speed the permitting process for both fossil fuel and clean energy projects by putting two-year time limits on project reviews and limiting the power of states in Clean Water Act approvals, changes that could benefit the energy industry but are opposed by environmentalists.

The legislation could also benefit Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s stalled $6.6 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline by changing the court venue which has tied up the embattled project.

Manchin said his bill would direct the court system “to do the job in a timely fashion but rotate around.”

“We’ve had the same three judges from the Fourth Circuit 10 times ruling against,” Manchin said. “All we are asking for is a good shot at this.”

Senate passage is far from certain. Senator Bernie Sanders said last week he’d vote against the stopgap government-funding bill if Democratic leaders added the permitting plan. Manchin told reporters Thursday he expected as many as four Democrats to join Sanders in opposing the bill.

There are major problems in the House as well. House Democratic leaders say they have never agreed to put the Manchin bill on the stopgap spending bill.

There is little chance House Republicans would rush to vote for the stopgap bill and make up for Democratic defections.

House Energy and Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Wednesday on Twitter that she cannot envision the House GOP supporting any energy bill written by Manchin and Schumer. She said in an interview the changes to permitting would have to be significant and praised the Capito proposal.

House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, one of more than 70 Democrats opposing the Manchin effort, said it is still up in the air whether his bill gets attached. She said progressives have a major problem with cutting review periods to 150 days from six years because impacted communities would have too little time to review projects for environmental impact.

“If it doesn’t get on the continuing resolution, it’s dead,” Manchin said.