House Republicans on Thursday approved a sprawling energy package that seeks to undo virtually all of President Joe Biden\u2019s agenda to address climate change.
The legislation would sharply increase domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal, and ease permitting restrictions that delay pipelines, refineries and other projects. It would boost production of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt that are used in electric vehicles, computers, cellphones and other products.
By a 225-204 vote, the House sent the measure to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it \u201cdead on arrival.\u201d Four Democrats joined with all but one Republican to support the bill.
Biden has threatened to veto the bill, saying it would replace \u201cpro-consumer policies\u201d adopted in the landmark climate law approved last year \u201cwith a thinly veiled license to pollute.\u2033 The bill would roll back Democratic investments in clean energy and \u201dpad oil and gas company profits,\u2033 the White House said.
Republicans call the bill the \u201cLower Energy Costs Act\u201d and gave it the symbolic label H.R. 1 \u2014 the top legislative priority of the new GOP majority, which took control of the House in January.
The measure combines dozens of separate proposals and represents more than two years of work by Republicans who have chafed at Biden\u2019s environmental agenda. They say Biden\u2019s efforts have thwarted U.S. energy production and increased costs at the gas pump and grocery store.
\u201cFamilies are struggling because of President Biden\u2019s war on American energy,\u2033 said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., one of the bill\u2019s main authors.
The GOP bill will \u201cunleash\u201d abundant U.S. natural resources \u201cso we can produce energy in America,\u2033 Scalise said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to be addicted to foreign countries that don\u2019t like us.\u2033
Democrats called the bill a giveaway to big oil companies.
\u201cRepublicans refuse to hold polluters accountable for the damage they cause to our air, our water, our communities and our climate,\u2033 said New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
\u201cWhile Democrats delivered historic wins for the American people by passing historic climate legislation, Republicans are actively working to undermine that progress and do the bidding of their polluter friends,\u2033 Pallone said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the bill \u201crestores American energy leadership by repealing unnecessary taxes and overregulation on American energy producers,\u2033 and \u201cmakes it easier to build things in America\u2033 by placing a two-year time limit on environmental reviews that now take an average of seven years.
\u201cEvery time we need a pipeline, a road or a dam, it gets held up five to seven years and adds millions of dollars in costs for the project to comply with Washington\u2019s permitting process,\u2033 McCarthy said in speech on the House floor. \u201cIt\u2019s too long, it\u2019s unaffordable, it\u2019s not based on science and it\u2019s holding us back.\u2033
He pointed to a project to modify and improve Lake Isabella Dam in his central California district that has lasted 18 years and still is not completed.
\u201cPermitting reform isn\u2019t for everyone,\u2033 McCarthy added. \u201cIf you like paying more at the pump, you don\u2019t want to make it faster for American workers to build more pipelines. If you\u2019re China, you\u2019d rather America sit back and let others lead. And if you\u2019re a bureaucrat, maybe you really do enjoy reading the 600-page environmental impact studies.\u2033
Most Americans want lower prices and more U.S. energy production, McCarthy said \u2014 results he said the bill will deliver.
Democrats called that misleading and said the GOP plan was a thinly disguised effort to reward oil companies and other energy producers that have contributed millions of dollars to GOP campaigns.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, derided the bill as the \u201cPolluters Over People Act\u2033 and \u201ca nearly 200-page love letter to polluting industries.\u2033
Instead of reining in \u201cBig Oil\u201d companies that have reported record profits while \u201choarding thousands of unused leases\u2033 on public lands and waters, the GOP bill lowers royalty rates paid by energy producers and reinstates noncompetitive leasing of public lands, Grijalva said.
The bill also gives mining companies \u201ca veritable free-for-all on our public lands\u201d and \u201cmakes mockery of tribal consultation\u2033 required under federal law, he said.
Under the GOP plan, mining companies will \u201cdestroy sacred and special places\u201d throughout the West, \u201cruin the landscape and leave behind a toxic mess that pollutes our water and hurts our health \u2014 all without paying a cent to the American people,\u2033 Grijalva said.
Schumer called the measure \u201ca giveaway to Big Oil pretending to be an energy package.\u201d
The House energy package \u201cwould gut important environmental safeguards on fossil fuel projects,\u2033 locking America \u201cinto expensive, erratic and dirty energy sources while setting us back more than a decade on our transition to clean energy,\u2033 Schumer said.
Schumer said he supports streamlining the nation\u2019s cumbersome permitting process for energy projects, especially those that will deliver \u201cclean energy\u201d such as wind, solar and geothermal power. \u201cBut the Republican plan falls woefully short on this front as well,\u2033 he said, calling on Republicans to back reforms that would help ease the transition to renewable energy and accelerate construction of transmission lines to bolster the nation\u2019s aging power grid.
The Republican bill would repeal a new $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other parts of the climate and health care law passed by Democrats last year. The fund, also known as a \u201cgreen bank,\u201d is set to provide low-cost financing for projects intended to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The House bill also would eliminate a new tax on methane pollution that would charge companies for methane leaks from oil and gas wells.
Four Democrats voted in favor of the bill: Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzales of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., opposed the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n