Senate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia’s plan to modernize the permission process was left out of the annual military budget bill on Tuesday, to the jubilation of House Democrats.
In exchange for his sponsorship of the Democrats’ climate spending measure, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged in August to assist Manchin enact a bill that would expedite government approval for energy and mining projects.
However, after congressional leaders decided to remove Manchin’s bill from the National Defense Authorization Act due to a lack of votes, Democratic House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva hailed the defeat of Manchin’s legislation as a victory for “environmental justice communities” across the country.
The Arizona congressman’s comments came in a Tuesday news release.
“Thanks to the hard-fought persistence and vocal opposition of environmental justice communities all across the country, the Dirty Deal has finally been laid to rest,” Grijalva said.
“House Democrats can now close out the year having made historic progress on climate change without this ugly asterisk,” he said.
"Thanks to the hard-fought persistence and vocal opposition of environmental justice communities all across the country, the #DirtyDeal has finally been laid to rest."
Read Chair @RepRaulGrijalva's full statement on release of NDAA text with no permitting rider language: pic.twitter.com/jY2Fu4Okqc
— Natural Resources Committee (@NRDems) December 7, 2022
The permitting reform proposal also garnered considerable resistance from Republicans.
Monday, more than 750 climate groups and “frontline communities” addressed a letter to Pelosi and Schumer urging them to stop Manchin’s “dirty deal” to reduce oil and gas sector emissions.
On November 21, Grijalva and 76 other House Democrats urged Democratic party leaders to block passage of the bill.
In September, Manchin sought to attach his energy legislation to a government funding measure that needed to pass to prevent a government shutdown; however, the West Virginia senator urged Schumer to withdraw the permits deal when both Republican and Democratic senators decided to veto it.
“Failing to pass bipartisan energy permitting reform that both Republicans and Democrats have called for will have long term consequences for our energy independence,” Manchin said in a Tuesday statement.
My statement on Congress' failure to put politics aside and pass bipartisan energy permitting reform: pic.twitter.com/5rkEps4JrY
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) December 7, 2022