Bipartisan legislation in the Senate to streamline the federal permitting process for both clean energy and fossil fuel projects would lead to a net drop in global greenhouse gas emissions, according to new analysis from the think tank Third Way.
The findings could bolster support for the bill among skeptical Democrats. The legislation’s backers, which include clean energy developers and some Senate Democrats, have said it would help meet President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate goals despite including pro-fossil-fuel measures alongside provisions enabling more production of renewables and build-out of interstate transmission lines.
The analysis of the emissions impact of S. 4753 from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) — shared exclusively with POLITICO — drew from other new and recent modeling on major elements of the bill from Resources for the Future, RMI and Princeton University’sJesse Jenkins.
The analyses examined policy levers included in the bill that would expand onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing, boost liquefied natural gas exports and promote the construction of electric transmission lines.
