Republicans on the House Rules Committee blocked several Democratic amendments to legislation that would ease permitting for projects affecting federal waters.
The panel met Tuesday afternoon to consider debate parameters to four Republican bills and two nonbinding resolutions as part of “energy week,” the House Republicans’ organized attack on the Biden administration’s energy and environment policies.
The broadest of the bills up for a vote this week, the “Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act,” H.R. 7023, was the only one for which Rules made amendments in order for debate Tuesday. Of the eight amendments advanced, only one was bipartisan.
The other bills include proposals to block royalty rate increases for oil companies drilling on public lands: H.R. 6009, from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.); prohibit a moratorium on fracking for oil and natural gas: H.R. 1121, from Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.); and repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s greenhouse gas reduction fund: H.R. 1023, from Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.). That latter bill also includes a repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s methane fee.
