As part of the deal to earn Senator Joe Manchin’s support for the Inflation Reduction Act, Democratic leadership promised a vote on reforms to the federal energy permitting process by the end of the fiscal year. In a new insight, Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Bosch reviews the key energy components of the (likely) future bill and considers their potential impacts.

Key points:

• Sen. Manchin has released a list of energy permitting reforms he intends to include in the legislation, which would address some of the long-standing challenges of the federal permitting process.
• It is not clear if the reforms would be entirely focused on energy projects or if they would have broader application.
• Despite the promised vote on Sen. Manchin’s proposed reforms, the permitting package’s passage is far from certain.

Read the analysis