As part of House Republicans’ American Energy Initiative, Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Energy and Minerals Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn and Reps. Raúl Labrador, Kristi Noem and Rob Wittman today introduced a series of bills to expand renewable energy production and create jobs. The four renewable energy bills would streamline bureaucratic impediments to the efficient development of solar, wind, and geothermal renewable energy technologies on federal lands and waters.

A legislative hearing on these bills will be held on Thursday, June 23^rd.

“House Republicans are committed to utilizing America’s abundant and diverse energy resources to implement an all-of-the-above, American-made energy strategy. This includes utilizing our public lands for renewable energy projects,” said Chairman Hastings. “Too often renewable energy projects get caught up in government red-tape and it can take years to break free. Our goal should be to encourage the production of renewable energy, not impose duplicative regulations that cause years of delays. These bills are necessary in order to facilitate the development of clean, renewable energy and provide a clear, simple process for completing important environmental reviews.”

“Increased domestic energy production is essential to America’s economic recovery. We need an all-of-the-above approach to accessing our vast reserves of traditional and renewable energies. These bills will help eliminate the regulatory confusion, lawsuits and permitting delays that are currently stifling wind and solar development. These bills will help get vital renewable energy projects moving forward and creating jobs,” said Subcommittee Chairman Lamborn.

Members introduced the following renewable energy bills: (Click titles for more information)

• The Cutting Red Tape to Facilitate Renewable Energy Act (Hastings, WA) would accelerate the development of clean, renewable energy projects on federal lands by streamlining and simplifying government regulations, while still ensuring thorough environmental reviews.

• The Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act (Wittman, VA) would streamline the process for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to approve temporary infrastructure, such as towers or buoys, to test and develop offshore wind power in the Outer Continental Shelf.

“Virginia has the opportunity to be a leader in offshore wind development, especially with astreamlined process to foster development. With favorable wind resources offshore and a strong maritime and manufacturing industry, Virginians are ready to get to work producing American-made energy,” said Rep. Wittman.

• The Utilizing America’s Federal Lands for Wind Energy Act (Noem, SD) would streamline the process to test and develop onshore wind power on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service land.

“Harnessing the wind that blows across South Dakota and other parts of our country is critical to an American renewable energy solution. The bill I am introducing clears out the bureaucratic underbrush and conflicting agency decisions to make way for temporary testing and monitoring projects on certain federal lands to determine longer-term wind feasibility. There’s no reason why Washington bureaucracy should block us from using this clean, renewable resource,” said Rep. Noem.

• The Exploring Geothermal Energy on Federal Lands Act (Labrador, ID) would reduce redundancy and bureaucratic delays by establishing a common sense policy for the development of clean, geothermal energy.

“The Exploring Geothermal Energy on Federal Lands Act improves the regulatory process that hampers geothermal exploration while minimizing the surface impact. This will result in increased deployment of clean, emission-free geothermal power,” said Rep. Labrador.

###

Printable PDF of this document