Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on several bills that would support all of the above domestic energy approach and reign in harmful Biden administration regulations. Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) issued the following statement in response:

“Instead of putting Americans to work to develop natural resources that are abundant at home in the U.S., the Biden Administration continues to outsource our energy needs to adversarial foreign nations with poor environmental and labor standards. It is clear that we need an all-of-the-above domestic energy policy. This Administration’s energy policies have been a slap in the face to every American energy worker who can develop these resources responsibly here at home, and an insult to American families who are suffering because of high energy costs. I am proud of the Subcommittee’s work today in discussing several bills that will hold this Administration accountable and help unleash American energy dominance.”

Background

Since day one, the Biden administration has jeopardized American energy and instead incentivized production in adversarial nations like Venezuela and Iran. Today's hearing centered on four bills that will spur the responsible development of domestic energy resources by creating certainty, streamlining permitting processes and blocking harmful regulations. 

H.R. 1449, the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now or CLEAN Act,introduced by U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), addresses geothermal leasing and permitting issues by amending the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to require the Secretary of the Interior to hold lease sales annually for geothermal energy. If a lease sale is missed for any reason, the bill would require that the secretary hold replacement sales during the same year. The bill would also require the secretary to respond to geothermal drilling permit applications within 30 days of receipt.

H.R. 2855, the Sinkhole Mapping Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto (R-Fla.), is a bipartisan bill to examine short- and long-term causes of sinkholes and identify higher risk areas, and would direct the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to establish a program to study the causes of sinkholes. This bill would also require the USGS to develop maps of higher risk areas and revise them as needed every five years.

H.R. ____, the Restoring American Energy Dominance Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), would require the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw a recently proposed Biden administration onshore rule that would significantly increase and create new fees for oil and gas production on federal lands, driving up energy costs for American consumers. 

H.R. ____, the Right of Way Application Transparency and Accountability Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), addresses a significant bottleneck in the permitting process for all of the above energy projects on federal lands by requiring that federal agencies notify right-of-way applicants if their application is complete within 60 days. At present, there is no such timetable for responding to right-of-way applications on federal lands.

Over the course of the 118th Congress, the House Committee on Natural Resources has worked to support American energy independence through the passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, and by advancing legislation to remove regulatory burdens and conduct oversight of the Biden administration's policies. 

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