What to expect during the big Natural Resources markup

The Democratic plan is to make passing the committee's portion of the Republicans' megabill as painful as possible.

May 06, 2025

House Natural Resources Republicans are aiming to advance their part of the GOP’s tax, energy and national security megabill Tuesday. And while committee Democrats are powerless to stop it, they plan to make the process as painful as possible.

The Democrats, led by ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), plan to launch a bombardment of more than 100 amendments to the bill during the full committee markup, according to an aide granted anonymity to speak on the plans. Huffman has called the bill "worse than anything I could have imagined."

The amendments will span a wide breadth of the bill, aiming to strike controversial permitting provisions, block new oil and gas leasing and safeguard public lands.

While most or all will fail, the markup will offer an opportunity for the Democrats to pick apart the Republican bill that holds the keys to President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda and his promises to “drill, baby, drill.”

“Bring your seat cushion or make sure you’re watching from a comfortable chair,” the aide said when asked about Democrats' plans to fight back. “Our members are very concerned about what is in the bill and what isn’t, so they want to make sure they have an opportunity to talk about Democratic priorities and how just really off-track this Republican bill is.”

Democrats appear particularly incensed by a new permitting provision in the bill, which they are calling “pay to play.” The provision would allow companies to pay a fee in exchange for expedited permitting and exemptions from judicial review.

“[It] would allow just a really outrageous circumventing of a fundamental law that is critical for the education and the protection of the public,” the aide said. “We will be offering amendments to address those issues and highlight that Democrats are ready to fight to protect public lands, health and stopping this hijacking of the government.”

Republicans have long wanted to accelerate environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, a decades-old law many Democrats deem sacrosanct.

Observers were expecting the party-line package to use novel ways to address permit problems, particularly after President Donald Trump last December posted on Truth Social that any company investing a billion dollars in the United States would get “fully expedited approvals and permits.”

The Natural Resources provisions go beyond old permitting ideas like setting shot clocks and reducing paperwork burdens. The bill would require companies to pay a fee that’s 125 percent the cost of an environmental impact statement — which Westerman acknowledged would rough be roughly $6 million when all costs are calculated.

A six-month deadline would be established for the government to conduct an environmental assessment and a one-year deadline for an environmental impact statement.

Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) downplayed the changes to the nation’s environmental laws, saying there’s “very little permitting in this package.”

“NEPA is a process,” he said, noting people could still challenge projects in court under other laws like the Clean Water Act. “It’s done by a lot of states already. If you are trying to get a permit and you need it done quicker you can pay the state an expedited fee and it pays for overtime and additional employees. It’s not short cutting anything; it’s just putting more resources toward it.”

'Literally a blank check'

Environmentalists, however, charged the move would sideline the public, shield companies from scrutiny and lead to damage far greater than the cost of the fee.

“It is literally a blank check you are handing over to the project sponsor itself,” said Raul Garcia of Earthjustice. “You are trading any damage that comes from these projects for a 125 percent fee. The damage can be catastrophic.”

The quicker reviews would extend to solar and wind projects too, but Garcia pointed out other provisions in the proposal would use a complicated formula to increase acreage rent costs for renewable energy generation on federal lands. A spokesperson for the American Clean Power Association said the trade group is still reviewing the text.

In addition, Garcia said the provisions complement other provisions in the Judiciary Committee's proposal, including enacting sweeping deregulatory actions and eliminating third-party payments in settlements, an enforcement tool that was targeted by Trump during the first administration.

Whether or not the permitting provisions survive the Senate’s strict rules on reconciliation is up to the parliamentarian there. Under the Byrd rule, named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), any provision that does not have a clear budget nexus can be excluded from the package.

“That’s a big substantive change for NEPA,” said Brett Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Right now NEPA processes are free. That strikes me as substantially [different].”

Sneak peak at amendments

Other Democratic amendments will tackle long-sought Republican goals, including those to conduct quarterly onshore lease sales, new offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the Cook Inlet and force four new lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Rep. Yassamin Anasari (D-Ariz.), who is the ranking member on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, will introduce a slate of amendments, which her office shared with POLITICO’s E&E News.

Among the amendments are those that would bind Interior Secretary Doug Burgum from granting any new permits for oil and gas development on the Coastal Plain of ANWR until revenue from lease sales reaches $1.82 billion. That would likely ruin any chance of developing ANWR, given that its only lease sale brought in about $14 million. A second lease offered garnered zero bids.

Another Ansari amendment would bar any fossil fuel company found liable for collusion by the Federal Trade Commission or a court from participating in any lease sales under the bill. Another would prohibit any funds from the bill from being used to transfer management of public lands on the southern border.

One amendment from Ansari would block the entire bill from taking effect until all fossil fuel subsidies are eliminated.


By:  Garrett Downs, Kelsey Brugger
Source: E&E Daily