Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center Urges Congress to reject the Energy Permitting Reform Act
For Immediate Release
08/02/2024
Contact:Trey Pollard, trey@pollardcommunications.com, 202-904-9187
Whitesburg, KY – On July 22nd, 2024, Sens. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., and John Barasso, R-Wyo., released new energy permitting legislation, entitled the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. If passed, this legislation would cut out vital public engagement opportunities that offer residents the chance to weigh in on risky new mining and drilling projects in their communities. While there are some useful steps to advance renewable energy projects, if passed, this law could lead to the rubber-stamping of dangerous fossil fuel proposals that threaten the health and safety of communities and the growth of local economies – all without adequate public input.
The legislation targets important National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA) requirements. Typically, NEPA gives communities that will be impacted by a proposed federal project with their only opportunity to learn about the project and provide their input and expertise. NEPA is a critical safeguard that provides a mechanism for community concerns to be addressed during the project authorization process. However, the proposed bill is designed to remove impacted communities’ voices from consideration and shortcut communities’ abilities to challenge projects by providing certain categorical exclusions under NEPA for low-disturbance activities in order to accelerate renewable energy permits.
Among other things, the bill would increase coal mining on federal lands while significantly reducing the public’s ability to learn about, comment on, and challenge proposed coal leases. In particular, the Energy Permitting Reform Act would severely limit the time available for NEPA review by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to render a decision within 90 days after the completion of the environmental assessment or environmental impact statement. Any challenges to the agency’s rushed decision would be stymied because the bill further constrains timing of judicial review. Under the new law, an affected community would have only 150 days to bring a challenge to a proposed coal lease. Further, for those cases that make it to court under the new deadline, the proposed law would require the court to conduct expedited review. Finally, if the court remands the lease decision to the agency, the agency would have only 180 days to cure any defects. While we acknowledge that some aspects of the bill, as it currently stands, appear designed to tackle problems that are occurring in low-income areas which experience a higher-than-average number of electrical outages, the Energy Permitting Reform Act removes key guardrails in the review process that can take longer than the stated deadlines in the bill permit.
Mary Cromer, Deputy Director for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, said of the Energy Permitting Reform Act, “This is not the time to make fossil fuel extraction easier, but that is what this bill does. This bill speeds permitting and limits the review of fossil fuel extraction across the country. And, it does that primarily by curtailing the rights of affected communities to understand and challenge proposed projects.”
Brendan Muckian-Bates, Policy Advocate for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, likewise said of this new legislation, “This bill is a wishlist for the fossil fuel industry, crafted and passed through the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources under the guise of compromise between the extractive industry and environmental groups. In reality, it accelerates fossil fuel production while all but removing the legal guardrails put into place by Congress to ensure that new energy permits are given adequate time for public comment, impact studies, and legal review. We can have a future that is more reliant on renewable, green energy, but this bill falls well short of accomplishing that goal.”
We urge members of the Senate to reconsider the expeditious nature of this bill which will impact communities across the region.
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