CHARLESTON – While U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito agree on the need for permitting reform to kickstart domestic oil and natural gas production, both made their cases to West Virginia media Thursday for two different plans.

Manchin and Capito held separate virtual briefings with reporters Thursday afternoon from their offices on Capitol Hill within an hour of each other.

Manchin, D-W.Va., is working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on a permitting reform bill that will be attached to a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government from shutting down by the end of the month. Allowing for permitting reform was a condition Manchin extracted from House and Senate Democratic leaders for backing the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act.

Bill language for the permitting reform section of the CR has not been released yet, but could likely include a two-year cap on environmental reviews; limits on legal challenges to energy projects; a list of top energy projects, including oil and natural gas projects, to expedite; and taking the brakes off of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline project.

“We’re the only superpower in the world that takes as long as we do, that goes through the bureaucracy and the court system, that ties things up for two and three times longer than it does anywhere else in the developed world,” Manchin said.

Manchin negotiated the permitting reform deal with Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., with the support of President Joe Biden. Speaking Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden remains committed to the deal.

“The president is committed to the deal, and we recognize that an element of that is a — is an agreement between Sen. Schumer and Sen. Manchin to pass a permitting form — a permitting reform bill,” Jean-Pierre said. “We support that deal and that vote, and we will work with Congress to determine the best pathway — pathway forward.”

While he has the support of Schumer, Pelosi and the White House, Manchin could have issues with getting the bill through the Senate and House even with attaching it to the CR needed to keep the federal government funded past Sept. 30. The bill must get to 60 votes to overcome a filibuster threat in the 50/50 Senate, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has already said no.

Capito, R-W.Va., introduced her own permitting reform bill Monday, modeled after an unsuccessful amendment she offered to the Inflation Reduction Act. Capito said the Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency (S.T.A.R.T.) Act is broader than what Manchin has proposed so far for his permitting reform package. The S.T.A.R.T. Act already has 46 Republican supporters in the Senate.

“If we’re going to have permitting reform, don’t you want to hear what consensus there is among Republicans … to get this passed? We haven’t been asked our opinion,” Capito said. “We haven’t seen detailed text or actual legislation. I thought it was a good idea to make public … the ideas that we think have merit.”

The S.T.A.R.T. Act would also expedite completion of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that will transport natural gas from the northern part of West Virginia to Chatham, Virginia. It would also prohibit retroactive vetoes of permits, streamline the ability for industry to make improvements or reduce emissions, shorten certain timeframes in the Endangered Species Act and give states the right to develop energy resources on federal lands.

It also gives states the exclusive authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing used for extracting oil and natural gas, sets time limits on the permitting review process and codifies several environmental and National Environmental Policy Act regulations.

Over in the House of Representatives, Manchin only needs a simple majority for the CR and permitting reform bill to pass, but more than 80 Democratic House members have said they oppose the bill, according to The Hill, and it’s unclear how many Republicans would cross the aisle to support it after Democrats pushed through the IRA.

Despite not having full support among Democratic lawmakers, Manchin put the onus on Capito and other Republicans to give him the votes he needs to get 60 votes in the Senate for cloture and get the bill passed.

“Everything is at risk if the Republicans don’t come to the table. There’s never been a time in history in the United States that I know of for Democrats to support permitting reform,” Manchin said. “If Shelley is successful in getting 45 or … maybe all of the Republicans to co-sign (the S.T.A.R.T. Act), why wouldn’t they follow her if she is going to vote for whatever is in (the CR)?

“You can’t just say I support the message and agree with the concept, but because of politics I’m not going to vote for it,” Manchin added. “Someone is going to have to answer for that.”

Capito said Republicans should not be blamed if Manchin’s permitting reform package doesn’t get support from Republicans when he is struggling to get Democratic support.

“None of the 50 of us … were a part of what he’s negotiated,” Capito said. “I don’t know if he is in a position where he … asking people to vote on something and nobody knows what it is and he was just assuming because we’ve always been for permitting reform, his ideas would be fully embraced. I don’t know what kind of agreements he put into place. That’s why I kept pressing for let’s vote for permitting reform first.

“If you’re not being asked to be in the room but you’re being asked to vote on something, wouldn’t you like to know what are the things that are going to be able to get me to vote for what you want? That is simply what I’m trying to do,” Capito continued. “We’ll just have to see what strategy Sen. Schumer has worked out, what was promised in this deal that nobody else knows about to see if the deal cut behind closed doors without any input from Republicans can get done.”