WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping legislative package on Thursday directed at increasing domestic energy production, albeit with knowledge of the measure's doomed fate in the Senate.
House Resolution 1 -- the Lower Energy Costs Act -- would require federal agencies to follow policies to increase production of resources, including quarterly onshore and offshore leases involving federal lands and energy development projects. The resolution additionally would mitigate permitting problems for projects by establishing shorter deadlines and limitations on environmental reviews.
Arkansas' House delegation backed HR 1, joining all but one of their Republican colleagues; Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania voted against the bill. Four Democrats -- Texas' Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, Maine's Jared Golden, and Washington's Marie Gluesenkamp Perez -- joined Republicans in supporting the legislation.
The Lower Energy Costs Act combines multiple proposals from the House Natural Resources, Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, who serves as the House Natural Resources Committee chairman, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the package is the byproduct of a series of conversations among members.
"In our committee, there were multiple bills that individual members have had -- some of them for years -- that got combined into other bills," he said.
"By the time we marked up the bill that we passed out of [Natural] Resources Committee, we took three bills and marked them up into one bill, and those three bills had multiple bills that had been combined into those bills."
Legislative interest, according to Westerman, hit a new pace after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, which triggered an upsurge in energy prices. Republicans recognized the need for what the Hot Springs Republican described as a "comprehensive energy bill."
One target of the measure is the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law requiring the federal government to consider a project's environmental impact before making any decisions. The measure narrows the scope of reviews by eliminating assessments of certain low-impact activities, such as evaluations of geologic and soil conditions.
"NEPA applies to anything that has a federal nexus," Westerman said. "If you want to build a road and it has a federal nexus -- which it does because it takes federal funding -- you need a NEPA analysis. If you want to deepen a channel in a navigable waterway, you need a NEPA analysis.
"What I'm calling NEPA molasses is stopping us from building almost everything in our country, and we're falling behind because we can't build things," the congressman said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., pushed for a permitting deal during the last Congress following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, but lawmakers did not consider any related bills before the end of the year.
Republicans additionally inserted language to roll back fees on oil and gas development that Congress approved in the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation additionally repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion federal program funding projects reducing emissions and air pollution.
House Democrats criticized the measure as legislation serving fossil fuel companies. Members gave the bill an alternative title: "the Polluters Over People Act."
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the bill "isn't just an embarrassment of riches for polluting industry; it's an embarrassment to our communities, to our climate goals, and this legislative body."
Westerman pushed back against the Democrats' title of the bill, linking a global increase in energy and mineral demand to increased reliance on foreign countries for resources.
"They're forcing us to buy minerals from China. They're forcing us to buy manufactured goods that contain those minerals from China. They're forcing us to buy oil from OPEC," the congressman said.
The Senate will next receive the measure, which Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has described as "dead on arrival."
"The Senate is not going to waste our time on a bill that sets America back decades in our transition to clean energy," Schumer stated Thursday on the Senate floor. "All it takes is a brief glance at [the bill] to realize it's just a giveaway to Big Oil."
President Joe Biden would veto the bill if it somehow made it to his desk; the White House described the package as a tool to replace "pro-consumer policies with a thinly veiled license to pollute."
During his remarks, Schumer noted the party dynamics of the current Congress and an interest in passing a bicameral energy package. Republicans control the House with a slim majority, while Democrats hold the Senate with 51 seats.
"Let's roll up our sleeves, get right down to work and get something done on energy and so many other issues," he said.
Aware of the bill's fate, Westerman stated he would be willing to work with Democrats given a shared interest from colleagues. He also expressed frustration regarding how Schumer and the White House interpreted the legislation.
"We'll try to fix stupid, but I don't know if you can fix stupid," he said. "They've got to read the bill to see what's in it.
"The Senate is controlled by Democrats, [and] the White House is controlled by Democrats. We'll put the good policies and ideas out there," Westerman said, "and if they don't want to go along with what's best for the country and ultimately what's best for the climate and the environment, we'll work with the Democrats that will work with us to try to get something that will make it better here in America."
Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., has expressed interest in permitting legislation, and Westerman has spoken to Peters during this Congress about possible permitting changes. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., shared a willingness to work with Republicans on drafting a permitting bill during House Natural Resources Committee hearings.
"There's a lot of them that will say they want to work on permitting, but they don't really bring any ideas to the table on what to do on permitting," Westerman said. "If there's something we can do on a standalone bill on permitting, I'm open to doing that if that moves the ball down the court in the right direction."
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested a deal on raising the debt ceiling could include energy legislation in a March 27 letter to the president. Westerman said he could support such an arrangement if proposed.