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Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow argues Manchin bill too 'special interest driven'
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A scholar at a libertarian think tank Tuesday criticized a controversial energy permitting reform bill from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., arguing that his legislation "only tinkers around the margins" where the U.S. needs comprehensive reform.
"This bill contains a few good ideas, a few really bad ideas and a lot of fluff," Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) senior fellow Mario Loyola said in an interview with Fox News Digital. Loyola released a report on Manchin's legislation, "Unleashing America's Energy Abundance," just as the Senate prepares to hold an initial vote on the measure Tuesday night.
Loyola said the kinds of reform energy companies need include a uniform federal permitting process for all projects instead of several different processes required by a range of federal agencies, and more predictable timing for consideration of these projects. Loyola added that much more needs to be done to reduce litigation risks for energy companies.
Manchin's bill, Loyola argues, does not do enough to meet those goals and only affects a narrow group of companies.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., says that Republicans should back his permitting reform bill because it may be the last chance Congress has to address the issue for a long time. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik / AP Newsroom)
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"There are two groups that would benefit from this bill significantly, which are the natural gas pipelines and the transmission lines," Loyola said. "In that sense the Manchin bill is very special interest driven. It even has some provisions to pave the way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is from West Virginia to Virginia."
Loyola's report said Manchin's bill comes up short on reducing the risk of litigation for those building energy projects, and would only speed up potential challenges rather than making "far more sweeping changes."
He also dismissed the bill's requirement for President Biden to choose 25 high priority mining and infrastructure projects as "fluff," because the president already has the authority to make these decisions and can designate more if he wants.
CEI has a history of being funded by the fossil fuel industry.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a vote on his permitting reform legislation in exchange for support on Democrats' social spending and taxation bill. ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
The Senate is set to vote Tuesday night on the Manchin proposal, which is attached to a government funding bill. However, it appears unlikely it will have the votes to pass given opposition from both environmentalist Democrats and Republicans whom agree with Loyola that Manchin's bill does not go far enough.
Republicans also argue that they do not want to reward Manchin for the deal that is bringing his energy permitting reform bill to the floor. He voted for Democrats' social spending and taxation bill last month in exchange for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bringing his proposal to the floor.
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Manchin argued ahead of Tuesday vote that a major motivation for Republicans to back his bill is that this could be the last time in a while for Congress to act on permitting reform. Democrats generally are not supportive of the policy, but Manchin insists they will vote for it this one because it was included in a deal on their social spending and tax bill.
Manchin said on "Your World" with Neil Cavuto Monday that his bill "may be the only permitting reform bill… we'll ever do in our lifetime, because I don't ever see it coming back again."
Mario Loyola of the Competitive Enterprise Institute says he thinks Congress will have opportunities for more comprehensive permitting reform in the future. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite / AP Newsroom)
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"I think this is a one and done," Manchin added.
Loyola said he disagrees, and that Manchin and others should have been banging the table for this issue more in recent years instead of introducing a bill just last week. He also said he believes there will be momentum for more comprehensive reform in the future because the energy permitting issue will only become more noticeable to the average American.
"Manchin's not exactly in a good position to complain that Republicans aren't super excited about a bill that they have absolutely nothing to do with," Loyola said. "It's ridiculous to say that this is the last chance for Congress to fix this because this problem's only going to get worse."
Fox News' Dan Scully contributed to this report.