House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced a major energy legislative package Thursday aimed at countering President Joe Biden’s energy agenda and facilitating greater domestic fossil fuel production.
A vote on the HR 1, or the Lower Energy Costs Act, is expected during the last week of March after committees moved to advance it to the floor on Thursday. The package includes bills meant to speed up the federal permitting process, boost U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, and more generally lower energy costs for people.
"The Lower Energy Costs Act will fast-track American energy production, and includes comprehensive permitting reforms that will speed construction for everything from pipelines to transmission to water infrastructure," McCarthy said in a statement Thursday evening. "And it ensures that the critical minerals needed for advanced technologies come from America — not China."
The energy legislation will be the first product to come from multiple Republican-led committees since the party took back control of the House in the November 2022 midterm elections.
The House Natural Resources Committee advanced individual bills that are part of the legislative package Thursday, including the Transparency, Accountability, Permitting, and Production, or TAPP, American Resources Act, introduced by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), which would speed up federal permitting approvals for energy infrastructure and energy development on federal lands.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee spent much of the day Thursday marking up various parts of the legislation, including bills aimed at lowering energy costs, preventing the United States from becoming “dangerously reliant” on China, and building out domestic energy supply chains to secure energy independence.
“We want to lift barriers to expanding our energy supplies, remove red tape over exportation and importation of LNG, and build more pipelines with our North American allies and across the states,” said House Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), whose committee was in the process Thursday evening of marking up 20 pieces of legislation.
The bills would seek to shorten the hardrock permitting review process for critical minerals considered key to the production of electric vehicle batteries, increase fossil fuel refining capacity, repeal the Inflation Reduction Act's methane emission program for petroleum and natural gas facilities, and streamline construction and operation of cross-border energy infrastructure, such as the Keystone XL pipeline.
Earlier in the day, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) blasted Biden's decision to cancel Keystone XL as a “reckless, out-of-touch decision” that did little to stop emissions. Instead, she said, it caused oil to be delivered via higher-emitting railways and trucks and has cost local communities “millions in lost tax revenue" and jobs.
US INTELLIGENCE SUGGESTS PRO-UKRAINIAN GROUP CARRIED OUT NORD STREAM BLASTS: REPORT
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Wednesday that the House will vote on energy issues during the last week of March that he said will “show the country how we can be energy independent again and lower costs for those hard-working families who are struggling.”
Permitting reform is one area where Republicans could see some bipartisan support in the Senate, particularly from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whose attempts to pass permitting reform failed during the last Congress, including after he reintroduced his bill as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in December.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to support permitting reform last August in exchange for Manchin's "yes" vote on the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Biden administration has signaled its support for reforming permitting. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm expressed optimism for the legislation as recently as this week, saying at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, "It shouldn't take a year to permit new projects in the U.S.." Democrats, though, generally aim to speed clean energy projects without facilitating the added fossil fuel production sought by Republicans.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), said Republicans were attempting to push forward a partisan agenda and a slate of bills that have “no chance of becoming law.”
“Republicans love to talk about taking an all-of-the-above approach to building out our energy assets,” Pallone said today. “But none of the bills we are marking up today address, or even reference, clean energy.”