How Ohio train wreck could complicate permitting overhaul
Last month’s train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio has led to finger-pointing from both sides of the political aisle, but it is also now hardening attitudes on a still-live issue on Capitol Hill: permitting overhaul.
The connection may not be perfect, but progressives see the accident as a warning sign — that deregulation leads to disastrous environmental results.
“You get things like [East Palestine] when you take shortcuts,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, said last week.
Most Republicans, on the other hand, see the derailment as a call for building even more energy infrastructure.
“It should highlight how much safer pipelines are than trains, so it should make what, to me, is an obvious case [for more pipelines],” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on the accident.
As the East Palestine incident undergoes congressional scrutiny, the growing divide among lawmakers could further scramble negotiations on permitting.
Later this week, the CEO of Norfolk Southern Co., the train company at the center of the disaster, will testify before a Senate panel, where questions on regulations will likely be prominent.
At the same time, the House Natural Resources Committee will be marking up its portion of what will become the House GOP’s big energy and permitting package. The bill focuses on streamlining reviews and limiting legal challenges.
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“You get things like [East Palestine] when you take shortcuts,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, said last week.
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Huffman said, “I think when you start thinking about projects that could involve major threats to the environment … do you want to have impacted communities engaged and empowered in those decisions, or do you want to just steamroll them on behalf of polluting industries?”
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By: Jeremy Dillon
Source: E&E News
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