More than 50 members of the U. S. House of Representatives. UU. se oppose pressure to revise the federal environmental permit for energy projects, as part of a deal Democratic leaders reached with the U. S. senator. USA Joe Manchin III to pass his climate, fitness and taxes bill followed last month.
House members signed a letter from House Of Natural Resources Speaker Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat aligned with the party’s progressive wing. The letter urges House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland to forget about the law authorizing this month’s spending bill.
Congressional leaders released the text of an authorization bill, yet a one-page summary last month said it would set deadlines for firm reviews and environmental litigation that would challenge energy projects, designate high-priority projects for expedited reviews and require the final touch of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said that before a vote on the Democrats’ $750 budget bill he promised Manchin, a coal-rich West Virginia Democrat, that the Senate would take a separate bill to reform environmental permits.
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Schumer said he sometimes doesn’t like to restrict environmental reviews, but that the deal is worth it for secure passage of the Democrats’ bill that would spend $370 on blank energy programs, marking the largest federal investment to date in the fight against climate. change.
Renewable energy projects can also benefit from a more streamlined review process, Schumer said last month.
But Grijalva’s letter says the permit law would weaken the equipment used for energy projects to comply with environmental regulations and, in particular, harm communities near the proposed projects.
“Including those provisions in an ongoing resolution, or in any other unavoidable legislation, would silence the voices of environmental justice and frontline communities by protecting them from scrutiny,” the letter said. ) communities of more polluting or government investment. “
Communities of color and low-income communities are the hardest hit by pollutants and climate change.
A motion known as environmental justice seeks to protect those communities from further environmental damage, and President Joe Biden’s administration is committed to including those communities in environmental decision-making.
Congress will nearly pass an ongoing solution this month to keep the government open after the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The option would be a government shutdown.
The spending measure is expected to be one of the last pieces of legislation congress to pass before November’s midterm elections, and members are looking to add other priorities to this kind of inevitable bill.
Many Republicans and other advocates of more physically powerful energy production have complained that the federal approval process, which adds the needs of the National Environmental Policy Act, is too onerous for developers and costs too much time and money.
Grijalva’s letter advocates for greater investment by federal agencies to speed up the review process, but says NEPA and other federal reviews are too much to sacrifice.
“The permitting, public notice and comment provisions imposed through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are among the only equipment local communities have to require careful attention to federal projects that would potentially have serious long-term consequences for the environment. “environment and public adequacy in the communities,” the letter states.
Grijalva is still collecting members’ signatures and plans to finish the letter by the end of the week, House Natural Resources Committee spokeswoman Lindsay Gressard said. He declined to list members who had already signed until the letter was sent, but said more than 50 had their names on Wednesday.
In the letter, members “urge” Pelosi and Hoyer to introduce authorization provisions in an ongoing resolution, but explicitly say they would vote against such a package.
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by Jacob Fischler, capital of Idaho Sunday, September 7, 2022
More than 50 members of the U. S. House of Representatives. UU. se oppose pressure to revise the federal environmental permit for energy projects, as part of a deal Democratic leaders reached with the U. S. senator. USA Joe Manchin III to pass his climate, fitness and taxes bill followed last month.
House members signed a letter from House Of Natural Resources Speaker Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat aligned with the party’s progressive wing. The letter urges House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland to forget about the law authorizing this month’s spending bill.
Congressional leaders released the text of an authorization bill, yet a one-page summary last month said it would set deadlines for firm reviews and environmental litigation that would challenge energy projects, designate high-priority projects for expedited reviews and require the final touch of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said that before a vote on the Democrats’ $750 budget bill he promised Manchin, a coal-rich West Virginia Democrat, that the Senate would take a separate bill to reform environmental permits.
Get the morning headlines in your inbox
Schumer said he sometimes doesn’t like to restrict environmental reviews, but that the deal is worth it for secure passage of the Democrats’ bill that would spend $370 on blank energy programs, marking the largest federal investment to date in the fight against climate. change.
Renewable energy projects can also benefit from a more streamlined review process, Schumer said last month.
But Grijalva’s letter says the permit law would weaken the equipment used for energy projects to comply with environmental regulations and, in particular, harm communities near the proposed projects.
“Including those provisions in an ongoing resolution, or in any other unavoidable legislation, would silence the voices of environmental justice and frontline communities by protecting them from scrutiny,” the letter said. ) communities of more polluting or government investment. “
Communities of color and low-income communities are the hardest hit by pollutants and climate change.
A motion known as environmental justice seeks to protect those communities from further environmental harm, and the administration of President Joe Biden is committed to including those communities in environmental decision-making.
Congress will nearly pass an ongoing solution this month to keep the government open after the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The option would be a government shutdown.
The spending measure is expected to be one of the last pieces of legislation congress to pass before November’s midterm elections, and members are looking to add other priorities to this kind of inevitable bill.
Many Republicans and other advocates of more physically powerful energy production have complained that the federal approval process, which adds the needs of the National Environmental Policy Act, is too onerous for developers and costs too much time and money.
Grijalva’s letter advocates for greater investment by federal agencies to speed up the review process, but says NEPA and other federal reviews are too much to sacrifice.
“The authorization and public information and comment provisions imposed through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are among the only equipment local communities have to impose careful scrutiny of federal projects that would possibly have serious long-term environmental and public suitability. “consequences in those communities,” the letter said.
Grijalva is still collecting members’ signatures and plans to finish the letter by the end of the week, House Natural Resources Committee spokeswoman Lindsay Gressard said. He declined to list members who had already signed until the letter was sent, but said more than 50 had their names on Wednesday.
In the letter, members “urge” Pelosi and Hoyer to introduce authorization provisions in an ongoing resolution, but explicitly say they would vote against such a package.
TRUSTED SUPPORT NEWS.
Idaho Capital Sun belongs to States Newsroom, a network of news offices backed by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Please contact Editor Christina Lords if you have any questions: info@idahocapitalsun. com. Follow idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and Twitter.
Jacob covers federal politics as a senior reporter for the state newsroom. Based in Oregon, it focuses on Western themes. Its policy spaces include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.
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