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The new House Republican energy plan is a wish list stripping 50 years of environmental progress [1]
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Date: 2023-03-06
Politico brings us some quotes and spin, and whether it's because they're a harder-right outlet now or because political reporters are the most scrupulously gullible people on Earth, there's a lot of deference to the notion that, no, no, this isn't about gutting environmental laws and cranking up fossil fuel extraction for the sake of industries that have Washington, D.C., in their back pocket, this is about an "all-of-the-above" energy approach that will also benefit solar and wind and other projects because, you know, reasons. But Politico also points out the biggest hurdle this new bill faces: other House Republicans.
"While conservatives have demanded a kind of “open season” for amendments, GOP leaders sense that could be a risky strategy," says Politico. So House leaders might announce that this bill, which collects about 20 different smaller bills from various committees into one big package, isn't subject to such shenanigans.
While House Republicans are giving quotes suggesting that this bill will be a bipartisan affair, or at least be a little bipartisan, nearly all of that bipartisanship appears to be resting on pro-coal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who Republicans expect will be on their side for this one.
Looking into the actual structure of the Republican bill, however, reveals it to be the usual Republican wishlist:
More drilling on federal lands and waters, requiring the federal government to "immediately" resume oil lease sales and fast-track permits for such projects.
Blocking presidential power to veto some projects, a response to former President Barack Obama's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline. Cross-border permits would fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.
"Reforming" the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act to speed up environmental reviews for energy projects, including a new mandate that regulators rely on existing data rather than conduct new site-specific research. Republicans say this would speed up new wind and solar plants, and it might. The lion's share of the benefit would go to new drilling and mining projects.
A loosening of environmental regulations on hard rock mining.
The repeal of the $27 billion greenhouse gas reduction fund designated in the Democratic Congress' Inflation Reduction Act.
The repeal of incentives to curb methane emissions designated in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Changes to the Clean Water Act.
A resolution expressing support for the export of American fossil fuels.
And so forth. The bulk of the nearly two dozen bills being considered for collection into the big-ticket Republican energy plan consist of speeding up extraction permitting, reducing the environmental considerations those projects are scrutinized for, and blocking local power to do anything about it. It's the same drill, baby, drill plan Republicans have been pushing for years, and nobody is trying all that terribly hard to pretend otherwise.
The only real Republican attempt at a "clean energy" program anywhere in the mix is the argument that if we scrap as many environmental regulations as possible, that'll benefit new large-scale solar and wind farms too so Shut Up.
That's true, of course. But it's also true that whatever climate mitigation those projects might provide could be vastly outweighed by the damage done by ramping up even more fossil fuel use at a time when catastrophic climate change is already almost certainly on its way. It's a maliciously insincere argument, but that's nothing new for drilling-obsessed Republicans.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/6/2156549/-The-new-House-Republican-energy-plan-Drill-Baby-Drill
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