Defenders Opposes Reckless Reconciliation Energy Permitting Provisions in House Energy and Commerce Reconciliation Bill

Defenders of Wildlife strongly opposes the energy permitting provisions proposed in the draft Energy and Commerce Committee section of the House budget reconciliation bill. The provisions would recklessly undermine critical environmental and wildlife protections and build on similar provisions included in the Natural Resources Committee reconciliation package. Energy and Commerce’s proposal would create pay-to-play permitting fees while removing expert oversight and public comment for destructive energy extraction on public lands and waters.  

“Congress should be working for the American public, not the interests of the fossil fuel industry,” said Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders. “Environmental conservation laws like the National Environmental Policy Act provide common sense safeguards that balance economic development with conservation needs. This legislation undermines that balance and sacrifices irreplaceable wildlife and habitats for the sake of giving the oil and gas industries bigger profits.”

Among its harmful provisions, the proposed Energy and Commerce Committee bill would:

• Allow companies to pay a $1 million fee for natural gas exports to be automatically deemed in the public interest.
• Allow fossil fuel companies to shortchange permitting by paying a fee of either $10 million or 1% of the project’s projected capital cost and authorize default approval of permits not reviewed by a deadline, allowing the government to green light projects without review.
• Block judicial review under the Natural Gas Act by limiting the right to be heard in court only to those with economic interest, barring claims made after 180 days.
• Rescind IRA funds that would make permitting reviews more efficient, accurate and timely.  

The reconciliation bill passed by the House Natural Resources Committee would:

• Circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act by allowing pay-to-play permitting, pushing through environmental reviews and barring administrative or judicial review for projects by companies that pay an additional fee.
• Require no fewer than four mandated lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge by no later than 10 years.
• Amend the purpose of the National Petroleum Reserve Production Act to mandate an oil and gas leasing program in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska.
• Increase timber production by requiring annual issuance of 20-year contracts in each region of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
• Require quarterly lease sales of onshore oil and gas in any state with available land, including Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nevada and Alaska.  
• Require no fewer than 30 offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico in a 15-year period.
• Require no fewer than six lease sales in Cook Inlet, Alaska over a 10-year period.
• Allow the Secretary of the Interior to waive any requirement under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that the Secretary determines would delay issuance of a lease under a lease sale.

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