by Jack McEvoy
The Daily Caller

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia sponsored his party’s spending bill shortly before his party leaders promised to expedite permits for crucial energy infrastructure; however, the arrangement could easily fall apart as little protections exist to make permitting reform a reality.

President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised Manchin that they would pass the speed-up permitting for pipeline projects, particularly for the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia, in addition to their $369-billion climate and tax package, Reuters reported Monday. Despite the party’s promises, permitting reform will not be easy to institute, and even if the Democrats cooperate as the companion bill will still face numerous legal and legislative challenges.

“He has not guaranteed anything,” Steve Milloy, a former scholar at the Competitive Enterprises Institute and member of former President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team, told the Daily Caller News Foundation…

“Even if you have the permits or guarantee that federal permitting is going to happen, green activists can still sue and there’s nothing to stop them from keeping everything stuck in court,” Milloy said. “There are no provisions constraining green lawsuits or judicial review in the bill, the very things holding up the Mountain Valley Pipeline that he claims to want.”

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