Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chair of the Senate Energy Committee, claimed he will lead a Congressional Review Act (CRA) motion to overturn the Biden administration’s final rule on permits, which was made public on Tuesday morning.
The Energy Department rule changes the way permits are given to make it easier for categorical exclusions, or projects that aren’t thought to have a big enough environmental effect to need a full review.
It also gets rid of rules from the Trump administration that were put in place in 2020 and that the Biden Energy Department said made it harder for people to respond.
“All the White House had to do was implement the commonsense, bipartisan permitting reforms in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, that all sides agreed upon, but once again they’ve disregarded the deal that was made, the intent of the law that was signed, and are instead corrupting it with their own radical agenda,” Manchin remarked in a recent statement.
Manchin said in November that he would not be running for re-election. He has led and voted for several CRA measures that have undone many of the Biden administration’s energy policies.
The CRA says that a simple majority of both houses of Congress can get rid of a government rule. However, the president can still veto these laws.
Along with Republicans, the West Virginia senator backed CRA resolutions that would have undone rules under the Endangered Species Act and a Labor Department rule on environmental and sustainable governance.
He also backed a resolution that would have brought back tariffs on solar panel parts that Biden had put on hold.
So far, Biden has vetoed all CRA motions that were meant to challenge the administration’s energy and environmental rules.
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