In the News
Natural Resources Committee approves NEPA overhaul
by Kelsey Brugger
The House Natural Resources Committee passed broad permitting legislation Thursday, which may become part of a broader package lawmakers hope to pass this Congress. The committee voted 25-18 for an amended version of Chair Bruce Westerman's (R-Ark.) “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act," H.R. 4776. Only two Democrats, primary co-sponsor Jared Golden of Maine and Adam Gray of California, ended up voting "yes" despite Westerman efforts to get more on … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Westerman’s bipartisan NEPA permitting overhaul advances to House floor
by Josh Siegel
The House Natural Resources Committee approved bipartisan legislation Thursday aimed at overhauling permitting reviews to enable faster buildout of new energy and infrastructure projects at a moment of unprecedented power demand growth and rising electricity prices. Chair Bruce Westerman’s SPEED Act would limit the scope of permitting reviews and restrain legal challenges for projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental protection law Republicans and some … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
by Ella Nilsen, Steve Contorno
The Trump administration is proposing to open federal waters off the entire coastline of California to drilling, as well as an area off the coast of Florida. Neither state’s waters have been open to new drilling for decades. President Donald Trump’s Interior Department released a five-year offshore drilling plan on Thursday that would open up vast parts of California’s coastline to drilling, which hasn’t happened in that state since the late 1960s. The Department is also proposing new oil … Continue Reading
November 19, 2025
House votes to kill Biden-era curbs on drilling, mining
by Garrett Downs
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 … Continue Reading
November 18, 2025
Democrats revive package of bills to clamp down on fracking
by Andres Picon
A group of Democrats are reviving a package of bills that would tighten federal regulations for oil and gas drilling, in a rebuttal to expected votes in the House to shore up the energy industry this week. The five-bill package, dubbed the “Frack Pack,” aims to hold oil and gas companies accountable to national standards for air and water quality. It would also eliminate the so-called Halliburton Loophole, which has exempted fracking fluids from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act … Continue Reading
November 18, 2025
Natural Resources sets NEPA overhaul markup
by Kelsey Brugger, Garrett Downs
The House Natural Resources Committee plans to vote later this week on legislation to revamp the National Environmental Policy Act. A markup of several bills will feature H.R. 4776, the "Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act," which would narrow the scope of environmental scrutiny of projects and limit litigation. Westerman said Monday evening that the committee was working on updated text that may encourage more Democrats to support the legislation. Many … Continue Reading
November 15, 2025
A major California highway is sliding toward the sea. There is no quick fix
by Julie Johnson
CRESCENT CITY, Del Norte County — Rattled by earthquakes. Pummeled by wind and rain. Buried in landslides. This 3-mile stretch of Highway 101 atop a cliff in California’s far north careens through old growth redwood forests and across an earthen river of dirt and rock that is constantly shifting downslope toward crashing waves. For more than a century, Del Norte County residents have called it Last Chance Grade, though no one recalls who coined the foreboding name. A freshly paved road … Continue Reading
November 12, 2025
Trump administration moves to rescind Public Lands Rule
by Robert Schaulis
Just over a year after the Biden administration signed off on a Public Lands Rule that would significantly increase the federal government’s ability to conserve public lands, the Trump administration announced plans to terminate that rule within the Bureau of Land Management. The termination of that rule has entered a public comment period. “The 2024 Public Lands Rule, formally known as the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, made conservation (i.e., no use) an official use of public … Continue Reading
November 11, 2025
Interior: NEPA doesn’t apply to megalaw’s offshore lease sales
by Shelby Webb, Ian M. Stevenson
The Interior Department said Monday that the National Environmental Policy Act "is not applicable” to dozens of offshore federal oil and gas lease sales mandated by the megalaw signed by President Donald Trump in July. Alyse Sharpe, a spokesperson for Interior, told POLITICO’s E&E News that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) requires regulators to use the same lease forms, terms, conditions and stipulations that were used for the last federal offshore lease auction held during Trump’s … Continue Reading
November 10, 2025
UN climate talks launch with few lawmakers planning to attend
by Amelia Davidson
The COP30 global climate talks are set to kick off in Brazil this week, with a limited United States presence — and only a fraction of the congressional lawmakers who have become staples at the conference. The ongoing government shutdown has stymied lawmakers’ plans to head to the talks in Belém, leaving just a handful of Democratic House members as the likely federal elected presence at the gathering. World leaders started making remarks last week ahead of the conference's formal … Continue Reading
November 10, 2025
"It's complete BS": Dems go ballistic over Senate shutdown deal
by Andrew Solender
November 10, 2025
Dems urge Burgum to retain Biden-era public lands rule
by Scott Streater
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum not to revoke a rule that elevates conservation on par with other uses of millions of acres of rangelands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Doing so would “undermine the long-term resilience of BLM lands at a time when wide-ranging stressors — including climate change, biodiversity and habitat loss, and increasing public demand for access to public lands — require stronger, not weaker, management … Continue Reading
November 04, 2025
Interior Secretary Faces Scrutiny for Travel Amid Shutdown
by Maxine Joselow
Doug Burgum, the interior secretary and President Trump’s energy czar, is on a weeklong swing through the Middle East and Europe, with stops in Abu Dhabi for a major oil summit and in Athens for a global energy gathering. Mr. Burgum has suggested that one goal of the trip is to negotiate more sales of American oil and gas to the rest of the world, one of the president’s top priorities. Yet some critics are questioning whether it’s appropriate for the interior secretary to be traveling abroad … Continue Reading
October 31, 2025
White House removes Atlantic from oil lease consideration after political backlash
by Ben Lefebvre
The Interior Department has removed the federal waters off the Atlantic coast from President Donald Trump’s upcoming offshore drilling plan after Republicans in the region pressed to keep oil and natural gas rigs away from their shores, three people familiar with the latest moves told POLITICO. The five-year leasing plan, aimed at reopening areas long closed to drilling, will still seek to allow rigs off the California coast, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private … Continue Reading
October 29, 2025
Marin food aid recipients face federal benefit lapse
by Richard Halstead
Some 15,500 people in Marin County will not receive their expected Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program allocations on time because of the federal government shutdown. SNAP, also known as CalFresh or food stamps, provides qualified applicants with a card that may be used like a debit card in participating grocery stores and farmers markets. The allotted funds for November will not be loaded onto their cards. “Obviously, we’re extremely concerned,” said Kari Beuerman, assistant director … Continue Reading
October 24, 2025
With East Wing gone, questions now turn to Trump’s ballroom donors
by Dan Diamond and Victoria Bisset
President Donald Trump’s swift demolition of the White House’s East Wing this week stunned conservationists and many Americans. But ethics experts and Democrats say they are turning to a question related to the next phase of the project: whether the donors behind the planned $300 million ballroom that will replace the demolished annex will receive any benefits in return. Tech companies and defense contractors such as Google, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft, as well as wealthy individuals such … Continue Reading
October 24, 2025
East Wing demolition highlights loopholes in preservation law
by David Jordan
The Trump administration’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House without consulting preservation agencies and organizations is a reflection in part of the unusual position the building has in historical preservation law. And when it comes time to jump through bureaucratic hoops to construct the actual 90,000-square-foot ballroom, President Donald Trump has stacked the deck of the local planning commission in such a way as to make approval all but a foregone conclusion. Sara … Continue Reading
October 23, 2025
House Democrats request details on White House ballroom from President Trump
by Arden Farhi, Jennifer Jacobs
House Democrats, disturbed by what they see as the destruction of a historic landmark, are demanding answers about the forthcoming White House ballroom. In a letter to President Trump, a trio of Democrats expressed concern about "transparency, funding priorities, the physical integrity of the White House and the ethical integrity of the Administration it houses." Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, along with Democratic Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and … Continue Reading
October 20, 2025
Bipartisan bill to combat wildfires set for committee vote
by Marc Heller
As the threat of wildfires continues to grow, lawmakers plan to take action this week with a vote on significant legislation that seeks to reduce wildfire threats in and around national forests. The main sponsor of the bill said he’s increasingly confident of its prospects. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said Friday that he believes at least three Democrats on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee will support his “Fix Our Forests Act," S. 1462, which would speed forest-thinning … Continue Reading
October 20, 2025
Pipeline safety bill back on the Senate agenda
by Amelia Davidson
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee will mark up a bill this week that would reauthorize the nation’s pipeline regulator and could potentially spark debate over pipeline protests. The committee will vote Tuesday on S. 2975, the "PIPELINE Safety Act of 2025," to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s safety programs for the first time since 2020. The bill is led by Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and … Continue Reading