It is unfortunate for all Americans that provisions to streamline and improve the federal permitting process are being removed from a funding bill.

The permitting provisions were sought by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia. Opposition by members of both parties led him to ask Senate leadership to remove the provisions.

Manchin’s proposals would have made it easier to build both pipelines for oil and natural gas and solar and wind projects. While the proposals certainly could have gone further in relieving industries of the burden of duplicative and convoluted permitting at a glacial pace, Manchin’s proposals were still a step in the right direction.

The reality is that America needs both — projects that meet the needs of Americans confronting the strain of higher energy bills today and projects that meet the needs of improving and diversifying our energy sources in the future.

Instead, our cumbersome and time-consuming permitting process will continue to bog down new infrastructure. The possibilities of pipeline construction that can employ hard-working Americans today and meet our energy needs today are now dimmer. The chances of new solar and wind projects that propel the feasibility that renewable energy can account for an increased share of our energy portfolio are lower.

As Manchin said, according to political magazine The New Republic, “inaction is not a strategy for energy independence and security.”

He’s right.

Natural gas lowers households’ energy bills, creates jobs and improves our national security.

The Consumer Energy Alliance calculated that natural gas saved state residents $30.5 billion on their heating and energy bills over the prior decade. It created jobs and revenue that led many towns throughout our region to see a revival. The use of American natural gas allows the U.S. to be less dependent on gas and oil from countries skeptical of our values and sometimes even hostile nations.

Reforming the federal permitting process would be a valuable step in fostering the continued growth of this industry.

And for those neighbors and friends and family members who remain suspicious of gas drilling’s benefits — though they truly shouldn’t — these reforms also would foster growth in renewable energy.

It could have been a scenario where everybody won. Instead, inertia and bureaucracy win and the American middle class loses.