WASHINGTON (WV News) — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., will retain her status as ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Committee during the 118th U.S. Congress.

Capito, during a press briefing Thursday, said her position on the committee, along with Republican control of the House of Representatives, could finally lead to an overhaul of the federal permitting process for energy projects.

Capito and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have each backed efforts in the last year to streamline the rules and regulations for energy projects, such as the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline project.

While previous efforts have originated on the Senate side, proponents are now looking to the House Commerce and Natural Resources committees to start the process this time.

“I’m certainly going to be pressing, and we’re going to be having meetings with our House colleagues on this very issue,” Capito said. “We’ll look and see what the House comes up with and see if it’s something I think we can get good compromises on.”

Prior versions of permitting reform legislation included specific assurances for the completion of the MVP project that is intended to carry natural gas from West Virginia to markets in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic.

Passing reform legislation — which would rein in project timelines and limit legal actions against projects — would benefit other stalled energy projects, not just the MVP, Capito said.

“Finding reasonable compromise to permit pipelines and power lines and other things is important to both sides,” she said. “If you want more renewable, you can’t do it without transmission. If you want more natural gas, like I do, you can’t do it without pipelines.”

At the end of December, Manchin tried to attach a permitting reform measure to the annual defense sending package.

“Permitting reform and the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are essential to ensuring lasting American security and independence,” Manchin said in a statement released shortly after the measure was rejected. “Continued inaction will be felt by every American in every part of the country. If I made a mistake anywhere along the way it was that I trusted my colleagues to rise above partisan politics and do what is best for our country. Instead they chose to kick the can down the road when America cannot afford to wait. What crisis will have to occur to spur bipartisan action?”

The MVP’s planned 303-mile route travels includes Braxton, Doddridge, Fayette, Greenbrier, Harrison, Lewis, Monroe, Nicholas, Summers, Webster and Wetzel counties.

The project, which developers have said is currently “roughly 94% complete,” was estimated to cost around $3.5 billion when it was initially announced 2014. The cost is now listed as “approximately $6.2 billion,” according to the project’s website.