A bipartisan energy permitting reform bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate — and described by one campaigner as “the biggest giveaway in decades to the fossil fuel industry” — advanced Wednesday in a key vote that came over the objections of hundreds of green groups.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 in a 15-4 vote. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voted against advancing the bill.

The bill’s co-sponsors, Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), claim the proposal will “strengthen American energy security by accelerating the permitting process for critical energy and mineral projects of all types in the United States.”

Critical lawmakers and climate campaigners warn that “this proposal includes a litany of fossil fuel giveaways, undermining potential climate benefits that might be attained by bringing renewable energy sources to the grid more quickly,” as Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, said in a statement Wednesday.

Hey @SenSchumer say NO to the Project 2025 dirty deal that Manchin and the Republicans are pushing!

Democrats shouldn’t do oil and gas companies bidding to override Joe Biden’s LNG pause.

Gulf Coast community leaders are in front of your office to say #NoDirtyDeal! pic.twitter.com/WJwp55psmc

Echoing warnings from last week, Slocum stressed that the bill “is nothing short of the first steps to implement the radical corporate giveaway agenda........

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