U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines at an Energy and Natural Resources hearing highlighted the need for commonsense permitting reform as Montana mining projects and forestry projects often get caught in a lengthy cycle of permitting and litigation and become extremely costly. Daines also called for the passage of his bipartisan 9th Circuit Cottonwood fix and discussed his bipartisan hydropower bill to streamline the permitting process, increase tribal engagement and oversight, expedite low impact projects, promote healthy habitat and coordinate federal decision making.
Download Daines’ remarks HERE.
Senator Daines: Chairman Manchin, thank you. The National Environmental Policy Act’s current regulations impose significant time and significant cost burdens with an environmental impact statement adding an average now of over $4 million to each project and taking four and a half years to complete. For hard rock mining, it routinely takes now over ten years and $1 billion dollars in start-up capital before a company produces any product in America. And that’s if they ever get through the permitting process. More often than not, we’ve got a situation where projects like the Libby Exploration Project that used to be called Montanore, it’s in northwestern Montana, they’ve been in an endless cycle of permitting and litigation now for 34 years. This can be producing minerals and metals that are needed for the future renewable energy economy. There’s no end in sight. This forces us to depend on countries like China and the Democratic Republic of Congo for critical minerals and materials. Permitting reform is needed now. And it needs to be comprehensive, needs to include forestry reforms to prevent unnecessary delays from endangering our forests, and our hydropower reforms so we can continue to use and benefit from this clean, low-cost energy source. Next week, we’re taking up my bipartisan 9th Circuit Cottonwood Fix and passing it in committee. This needs to be part of permitting. Yesterday, Senator Cantwell and I introduced the “Community and Hydropower Improvement Act” – that was a year in the making. This bill is the largest hydropower bill in two decades. And I thank Senator Cantwell being a great partner, two senators from the northwest part of the United States that understand the importance of hydropower. It streamlines the permitting and licensing process, increases tribal consultation, balances stream and species protection with increased support of hydropower production. You know, hydropower produces a third of all renewable energy and over six percent of all electricity in the United States. This bipartisan permitting bill must be included in any package that come before the United States Senate.
Mr. Gurmet, pumped hydropower storage is the largest and most valuable storage solution for intermittent wind and solar. The “Community and Hydropower Improvement Act” makes many permitting challenges, including creating expedited a three-year process for pump storage. Can you speak about the need to include a hydropower reform in the permitting discussion and specifically the importance of expediting pumped storage?
Mr. Gurmet: Thank you, Senator Daines. You know, broadly, as I shared with Senator Cantwell, it is hard to imagine a solution that addresses our security, economic and climate challenges by mid-century that does not have a significant reliance on continued hydropower, we certainly cannot move backwards. Pumped storage is now an essential component of that transition, because as you point out, it is essential to make sure that the grid is reliable while we have increasing amounts of wind and solar. We’re also very optimistic about efforts underway with battery technology and so we think the combination of pumped hydro and the tremendous growth in battery storage is going to provide that kind of resilience. And I think in terms of permitting the timelines, maybe just to take this more broadly, you know, the challenge we’ve had over permitting is some people have thought it as a way to slow things down, because they felt like what we were building was not consistent with our national needs. What has changed and I give this committee the credit for making this happen, is now we all have a vision of what success looks like. Hydro is part of that success, hard rock mining is part of that success, onshore wind, offshore wind, battery storage and now that we all have line of sight towards success, I think we all want to come together and get things done. And I think two years has kind of landed as that reasonable space to make these decisions in a way that involve communities respect outcome, and actually deliver for the American people.
Senator Daines: Thanks for those thoughtful comments. Mr. Nolan, permitting reform, without litigation reform, in this senator’s opinion is pointless. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get a permit if that permit is going to be endlessly litigated by a radical outside group. And Montana mines are not alone. The litigation cycle is a problem across the United States. I bring in this chart for the Rock Creek timeline to remind my colleagues of the problem that chart starts in 1987. I used to work for Procter and Gamble used to make things like shampoo. That’s lather rinse, repeat right there, over and over and over again. That started in 1987. And here we are in 2023. Mr. Nolan, how can we fix the litigation problem? And do you agree we need to have this at the forefront of our discussions?
Mr. Nolan: Senator Daines, thanks for the question. I believe you’re spot-on. It currently takes seven to ten years to get through the permitting process alone. And with your example aside, on average to another three to five years of litigation. Now we’re not saying that challenges and the right of the people to make their point should be eliminated. But that challenge should be within scope and targeted to substantial matters and upfront so that the project can be adjusted and public concerns addressed. So, I fully agree that without legal reform and judicial reform in this package, the permitting process improvements are going to have very limited impact.
Daines introduced the “Community and Hydropower Improvement Act” this week.
To see more of Daines’ work on permitting reform click HERE.