(C) Common Dreams
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What's actually *IN* House Republicans' horrible climate and energy bill? We're about to find out [1]

['March']

Date: 2023-03

So what’s in this massive bill? Nothing good.

The short version is Republicans are trying to gut NEPA and take away communities’ ability to give input. Why are they trying to do this? They’re trying to promote and speed up extraction projects for fossil fuels and other minerals and metals. Because having more projects that get approved faster translates to drilling and mining companies making more profit. And we know what that allyship between these companies and members of congress looks like.

The long version includes a deeper dive into specific measures that have been wrapped into H.R. 1. Keep reading.

After coming out hot in January with the Strategic Production Response Act, which would force new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, House Republican leaders kicked off February with a slew of additional bills that would expand oil and gas production and exports. One such measure is the Transparency, Accountability and Production (TAP) American Energy Act that aims to lock in decades of fossil fuel infrastructure and turn back all the fiscal reforms the Inflation Reduction Act made to the federal oil and gas program.

But it doesn’t stop there. There’s also a fistful of measures that would exempt the production, processing and refinement of various materials from protective laws regulating toxic substances, solid waste disposal and clean air standards. Their overly broad interpretation of “critical energy resources” could mean a free pass for virtually anything related to the energy sector, including nuclear waste, mine tailings, petrochemicals and more.

There’s also the Permitting for Mining Needs Act which aims to fast-track toxic mining on public lands and override a century of legal precedent by arbitrarily shortening NEPA public review timelines and limiting public engagement.

Then to round out this flurry of pro-pollution measures, there’s the BUILDER Act. This bill would excuse oil, gas and drilling companies from following certain environmental rules, with sweeping implications for the future of NEPA. In fact, gutting NEPA is this measure’s intent.

Again, even with forward-looking, positive-sounding names, these measures that make up H.R. 1 are actually aimed at silencing community voices. It’s all bad.

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[1] Url: https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/whats-actually-house-republicans-horrible-climate-and-energy-bill-were-about-find-out-0

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