Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is optimistic about the latest attempt to overhaul the federal permitting process for energy projects.
Capito, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, hosted a hearing Wednesday focused on the need to modernize the federal environmental review and permitting processes.
“I’m really excited — we had a great hearing yesterday in my committee,” she said Thursday. “We had five people testify who basically said we need permitting reform for every reason — for renewables, for pipelines, for broadband, for constructing homes, for constructing highways, for moving forward with clean power.”
Capito, along with former Sen. Joe Manchin, has advocated for an overhaul of the permitting process numerous times in recent years.
“Former Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Barasso (John Barrasso of Wyoming) moved a bill out of committee last year. It did not make it across the finish line,” Capito said. “But we need a bigger bill.”
The legislation she hopes to craft would include time limits on filing legal challenges against projects and would condense approval timelines, Capito said.
“The ranking member (of the Environment and Public Works Committee), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, is very much interested in having us come together with something that is bipartisan that we can pass out of the Senate,” she said.
“So I’m really encouraged about it. We have been talking about it forever, but I think we’re reaching a point where there is so much frustration with the system as it is now that we may actually get something done.”
As the committee looks at reforming the overall permitting process, the U.S. Army Corps has recently announced its decision to fast-track permits for around 600 projects.
These projects, which include mines, pipelines and oil and gas projects, would not be subject to the normal review process under the Clean Water Act.
The Army Corps’ move is in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring a “national energy emergency.”
Capito supports the Corps’ decision to expedite these projects.
“We need them to be more efficient. They run pretty much as the Army would run — and that’s slow and very hierarchical,” she said. “So I’m very glad to hear that they are moving some projects through a lot quicker. It makes a lot of sense.”
Some of the projects have previously undergone environmental review or are on land that has previously undergone environmental review, Capito said.
“So they don’t need to go all the way through the process every single time,” she said. “I think that’s what the Corps is realizing, so this is good news.”