- Legislation Would Further Promote Tribal Self-Determination over Energy Development
- LNG Export Permits – Critical for Lowering Global Emissions – Will Be Made Swiftly
DENVER – The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, creates a forward-looking, bipartisan set of permitting reforms that will help the U.S. promptly permit liquefied natural gas exports, facilitate energy development on federal, state, and tribal lands and speed the development of energy infrastructure across the American west and tribal lands now and in the future, the Western States and Tribal Nations (WSTN) Energy Initiative said today.
As a bipartisan, trans-national organization, WSTN advocates for innovative, practical approaches to energy that ensure its member states and nations are positioned to create rural economic development and tribal self-determination while lowering global emissions.
“By necessity, that ambition requires a common vision that must be above partisanship. This bill will help enshrine that spirit into law with concrete reforms that will serve America’s interests, those of our member states, provinces, and nations, and boost our ability to help our allies,” WSTN President Andrew Browning said. “There are innovative, visionary plans for future energy systems and infrastructure taking shape in the West, which will be hard-pressed to advance without the long-overdue reforms this bill proposes.”
Among many changes, the legislation proposes a 90-day approval period for LNG exports to nations without free trade agreements, which have been mired in a permitting halt ordered by the current Administration. WSTN has since its inception advocated for LNG exports as a tool to help lower global emissions by providing a lower-carbon option to Asian nations. The bill would also create a thorough set of reforms regarding energy development on federal lands, more than 90% of which are in the American West.
Crucially, this legislation incorporates the input of sovereign tribal nations including those in WSTN. As written, the bill grants tribes greater autonomy by removing duplicative federal permitting requirements that have hampered tribes’ ability to develop sovereign resources for the benefit of their people.
“We thank Senators Manchin and Barrasso for their comprehensive, bipartisan package of reforms built for the future of American energy, whatever form that may take,” Browning said. “It’s especially important that sovereign tribal nations are given even greater control over their own energy resources, and that Western states will have greater certainty surrounding federal permitting and how federal land in their territory can be developed to their citizens’ benefit.”
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About Western States and Tribal Nations Energy Initiative
Western States and Tribal Nations is a unique, trans-national initiative led by state, county and sovereign tribal nation governments, focused on creating rural economic development, advancing tribal self-determination and reducing global emissions by exporting western North American natural gas to international markets that need lower-emitting fuels.
Contact:
Bryson Hull
P: 202-657-2855