House votes to kill Biden-era curbs on drilling, mining

The Senate already passed one of the resolutions and is moving to take up another.

The House on Tuesday voted to overturn a slew of Biden administration land protections through the rule-busting Congressional Review Act.

The House passed S.J. Res. 80 from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) to ax former President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw millions of acres from production in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

Three moderate Democrats — Jim Costa of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas — crossed the aisle to vote "yes."

The legislation passed the Senate last month with support from Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman and now heads to President Donald Trump.

House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said the measure was critical to Alaska’s economic success and in line with congressional intent.

“The Biden administration stymied energy production in the NPR-A and failed to offer leases in a manner that that would boost revenue and provide economic stability to the region and the state,” Westerman said.

Arguing against the resolution was House Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who warned that the Republicans’ CRA strategy was both unnecessary and legally dubious.

"House Republicans are continuing to lock the American people into higher energy costs by pushing their fossil fuel playbook and sabotaging clean, renewable energy," Huffman said. "Our constituents deserve better."

The Congressional Review Act allows lawmakers to undo newly issued rules by simple majority. Because the last administration did not submit a number of resource plans as rules, it kept them vulnerable to attack from the GOP.

The House also passed H.J. Res. 131, from Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska), to repeal the Biden administration’s restrictions in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Congress must move to repeal the Biden-era [Record of Decision] that runs counter to congressional intent and unfairly reduces economic opportunities in the region,” Westerman said.

Huffman called the measure the "latest attack from my Republican colleagues to undercut our public lands, to prop up fossil fuel polluters and the expensive energy sources that they peddle and to leave people out of the decision-making process.”

The same three Democrats voted for the proposal. Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, who often bucks his party on the environment, voted to keep Biden development limits in Alaska.

Rep. Harriet Hageman's H.J. Res. 130 would strike the Bureau of Land Management Buffalo Field Office's latest resource management plan, which sought to severely restrict coal leasing. No Democrat voted in favor. The Senate is poised to approve the legislation this week.

Congress already killed Biden-era resource management plans in Montana, North Dakota and Alaska. The administration is moving to undo other Biden actions on its own.

By:  Garrett Downs
Source: E&E Daily

• Print
• Email
• Tweet