In a surprise victory for Republicans, the Senate voted to overturn a Biden administration rule requiring rigorous environmental review of major infrastructure projects.
Manchin, a key player on energy and climate issues, joined Republicans to support the measure, which was approved 50-47. Manchin has proposed a list of legislative measures to speed up federal permitting for major projects in exchange for his support of a Democratic bill to address climate change.
Manchin was the only Democrat to vote to overturn the Biden permitting rule. Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Patrick Leahy of Vermont were not present. The measure is not likely to move forward in the House.
The Senate voted in favor of reform of the federal permitting process, which can take up to 10 years to complete. Most Democrats don't share the same priority as Manchin and the GOP, Streamlining federal review.
The measure to overturn the Biden rule was sponsored by Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican.
The Biden rule overturns an action by the Trump administration that loosened environmental reviews. Major infrastructure projects can't be approved in a timely manner due to the new requirement.
Sullivan said that the new NEPA rule made it harder to build infrastructure projects in the United States.
He said on the Senate floor that the only people who like the new system are radicals on the far left and the Chinese Communist Party. Sullivan said that China and other competitors like the fact that it takes a long time to build a bridge in the U.S.A.
The White House threatened to veto the bill.
The White House said that the action would slow the construction of American infrastructure, lead to the waste of taxpayer resources on poorly designed projects, and result in unnecessary and costly litigation.
"For years I've worked to fix our broken permitting system, and I know the Biden administration's approach to permitting is dead wrong.''
Manchin said Thursday's vote was a step in the right direction, but that the measure is dead on arrival in the House. The only way we're going to fix this problem is if we get bipartisan permitting reform.
The new rule restores key provisions of NEPA, a bedrock environmental law that is designed to ensure community safeguards during reviews for a wide range of federal projects. The reviews were scaled back in order to create jobs.
The new rule was put in place by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The change could help to make sure that projects get built right the first time, according to the chair.
Projects approved by the Trump administration were often delayed or defeated by lengthy court battles.
Manchin, who brokered a surprise deal last week on climate legislation with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, said he's won promises from Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress to pursue permitting reforms in the Senate to speed approval of projects in his energy-rich state. Manchin wants Mountain Valley to be approved quickly in his home state of Virginia. Court battles and other issues have delayed the completion of the project.
Some of the proposals supported by Republicans include a two-year deadline on environmental reviews, changes to the Clean Water Act, and limits on judicial review.
Manchin's proposals are a threat to the environment and communities where projects would be built.
The Senate vote Thursday was nothing more than a Republican stunt to appease their fossil fuel industry allies, said Madeleine Foote, deputy legislative director of the League ofConservation Voters.
The most affected by an energy project should have a say in the projects built in their communities, according to environmentalists.
Foote saidThorough, community-based environmental reviews are critical to helping eliminate environmental racism and making sure low-income communities and communities of color are protected from who want to build dirty, toxic projects in their backyards
She called on Congress to act quickly on the climate bill. The bill is expected to be voted on this weekend.
The director of federal affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council said Americans are seeing the effects of climate change from the heat waves in Texas to the flooding in Kentucky. Climate change will not be considered by the federal government when making decisions. This is not logical.
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