US House Republicans unveil energy bill package

Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives today introduced the text of a massive energy and permitting bill they plan to bring up for a floor vote at the end of the month.

The 174-page bill seeks to expand federal oil and gas leasing land, accelerate permitting, relax environmental reviews, make it easier to approve critical mineral mines and revise royalty sharing. The bill will "tackle the energy crisis" caused by President Joe Biden's "disastrous policies," House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said.

The bill has effectively no chance of being approved in the US Senate, where the Democratic majority has no appetite for considering sweeping changes to federal energy policy. But House Republicans believe passing an expansive bill can offer a contrast to White House policies, while also becoming a starting point for future bipartisan negotiations related to permitting.

The bill would fast-track approval of cross-border oil and gas pipelines, eliminate the US Energy Department's role in authorizing LNG exports, mandate quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales, and overhaul vast parts of federal environmental reviews. It would also repeal key parts of last year's Inflation Reduction Act, such as a new fee on methane emissions, a $27bn program to lower greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related spending.

US senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) has urged the House to try to pass a standalone permitting bill, rather than a much broader energy package, as a way to support bipartisan negotiations later this year. Even some Senate Republicans have taken a dim view on the idea of taking votes on energy policy that has little chance of being enacted.

"A messaging bill is not designed to solve any problems," US senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week at the S&P Global CERAWeek conference in Houston. "I don't have time for that kind of stuff."

By Chris Knight