|
 This summer, Congress passed the costly Inflation
Reduction Act (IRA), which included key portions of President Joe Biden’s tax,
climate, and IRS priorities and cost a massive $740 billion. U.S. Sen. Joe
Manchin, D-WV, the 50th critical vote that allowed the bill to pass on party
lines, supported the legislation on the condition of a quid pro quo promise that
comprehensive permitting reform legislation, including changes to the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), would clear both the House and Senate by the
end of September.
But the likelihood that a permitting package will pass is not looking good as
progressives are ready to tank the deal that Democratic leadership promised
behind closed doors.
NEPA is a 1970s law requiring federal agencies to assess the environmental
impact of notable infrastructure projects or actions before approving or
rejecting a proposal. Unfortunately, over the years, the scope and timelines of
these reviews has dramatically expanded. The process has even been used by some
to completely thwart important infrastructure projects – especially for our
nation’s energy sector.
The NEPA process has become a series of bureaucratic hurdles for industry
wishing to deliver on infrastructure projects – including oil and gas projects.
Overlapping regulations, inefficient means of collecting information,
inconsistent rules across agencies and extended speculative analyses of
causation have led NEPA to stray from its intended purpose.
According to a 2018 study by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) – the
federal agency that implements NEPA – the time taken for review of an
application has more than doubled since the 1970s, with 25 percent of these
reviews taking more than six years to complete. Costs of the reviews have
climbed as well. This uncertainty can make projects uneconomical and many will
never be built unless the bureaucracy of NEPA can be legislatively controlled.
Without legislation to enact comprehensive permitting reform and to update NEPA,
the consistent restrictions on boosting America’s energy supply will be
exacerbated over and above the actions this administration has already taken.
Natural gas, for example, accounted for nearly 40% of electricity energy
generation in 2021 and demand is poised to increase 25% by 2030. The grids in
California, Texas and the Midwest are struggling to meet customer demand today
and this will only become worse as time goes on. Fast tracking new and current
natural gas projects will be key to strengthening the reliability of our
electric grid.
[to top of second column] |
Further, the huge inflation challenge that we are currently fighting can be laid
at the door of higher energy prices and scarce energy resources. Biden has
cancelled drilling contracts, affirmed the “end” of fracking, put a moratorium
on much offshore drilling as well as ending petroleum development on federal
lands, and cancelled pipelines to bring in Canadian oil and gas. Clearly,
current projects in review and future projects created outside of these new
prohibitions need a better process for review and approval than NEPA can
currently provide.
Apart from supply concerns, oil and gas is a major economic engine of this
nation. The oil and gas industry in Illinois – not usually thought of as a big
player here – provides 61,600 direct jobs and thousands more indirectly, as well
as millions annually in state tax revenue and property tax revenue for local
communities.
With all of this, some relief to the challenges afflicting current and future
oil and gas projects that may be approved is more than appropriate – it is
essential. We cannot allow politicians to continue to ignore the realities
behind our energy use and it’s contributions to our economy.
Yet progressives, who generally approve of any and all bottlenecks to oil and
gas projects, are ready to impede these commonsense reforms. In the House,
Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-NM), recently
spearheaded a letter with more than 70 colleagues asking leadership not to
include permitting reform in must-pass legislation that will fund the
government. Clearly, the House Democrats have had their $740 billion dollar cake
and have little interest in paying for it with the agreed-upon legislation.
The Democratic leadership must move past the progressives’ knee-jerk opposition.
Such opposition to NEPA reform puts politics above the needs of our nation. If
put up for a vote, such reform legislation would pass overwhelmingly and with
bi-partisan support.
Michael P. Flanagan is a former member of U.S. Congress
representing portions of Chicago in Illinois from 1994 to 1996.
|
