The US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Following the midterm elections in November, President Joe Biden faces a GOP-controlled House of Representatives largely against the administration’s climate change and clean energy policies and efforts to curb the country’s dependence on fossil fuel production.
Although Republicans have a slim majority within the House, the newly GOP-led committees have already began to launch oversight of the federal government’s climate agenda and have unveiled laws aimed to take care of or increase fossil fuel production.
It’s unlikely that Republicans will advance major laws to the president’s desk, but they may conduct oversight hearings on climate and energy laws and try to redirect funding for climate programs under the historic Inflation Reduction Act.
Meet the three Republicans who are actually leading key House environmental and climate committees:
Bruce Westerman, chair of House Committee on Natural Resources
Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., speaks during a news conference within the Capitol Visitor Center on the Save Our Sequoias Act, that goals to guard the trees from wildfires on Thursday, June 23, 2022.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
House Republicans chosen Westerman to steer the committee that oversees the Interior Department and the Forest Service and plays a task in dictating policy on issues like mineral resources, wildlife conservation, mining and irrigation.
Westerman, a representative for Arkansas’s 4th Congressional District, has a background in engineering and is a licensed forester. He’s argued the country should deal with advancing technology comparable to nuclear power and carbon sequestration to handle climate change, relatively than aggressively limiting the country’s fossil fuel production. He’s also introduced laws to plant 1 trillion trees globally by 2050 with a purpose to pull carbon out of the atmosphere.
Because the Natural Resources Committee chair, Westerman said he would deal with conducting oversight of the Interior Department’s proposed five-year plan for brand new offshore oil and gas leases in federal waters. The proposal would block all recent drilling within the Atlantic and Pacific oceans inside U.S. waters but allow some lease sales within the Gulf of Mexico and the south coast of Alaska.
“We will be using a variety of oil and gas for the foreseeable future,” Westerman said in a phone interview with CNBC. “Under this administration, they’ve attacked U.S. production on federal land. That’s bad policy, it is not following the law, and we plan to have oversight.”
Westerman also said he’s open to working with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, on bipartisan permitting reforms for the country’s energy projects. Such laws includes Westerman’s Constructing U.S. Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews (BUILDER) Act, which goals to hurry up the review process for energy projects under the National Environmental Policy Act.
“I’ve spoken to Manchin a few times — he’s willing to work on commonsense solutions,” Westerman said.
While the Natural Resources Committee is one of the vital influential panels for environmental and climate policy, the GOP’s agenda will likely be limited by the Biden administration and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Domestic critical mineral production might be an area where Democrats and Republicans might work together. Westerman has called for expanding mining to gather minerals mandatory for electric vehicles and other clean energy sources like lithium, copper, cobalt and nickel, arguing that doing so will boost U.S. energy security and limit the country’s dependence on Chinese supply chains.
But Westerman has also emphasized that the U.S. is focusing an excessive amount of on EV production as a climate solution and he’s against the thought of curbing fossil fuel development, each of that are key components of the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
“We’d like a sensible approach to energy and the environment to handle climate issues,” he said. “I would like to deal with policies and programs that truly work.”
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) during a House Energy and Commerce Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on April 2, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Zach Gibson | Getty Images
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents the fifth district of Washington state, is leading the committee at the middle of GOP plans to pass energy laws and conduct oversight of the president’s climate agenda.
Rodgers, who opposed the president’s Inflation Reduction Act, has argued that Democrats are moving forward with the clean energy transition too quickly, making the country more reliant on China for technology like solar panels and EV batteries.
She’s introduced laws that might limit the drawdown of petroleum within the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Energy Department develops a plan to extend the proportion of federal lands leased for oil and gas production.
Because the Energy and Commerce Committee chair, Rodgers has supported oversight plans that involve investigating climate spending under the IRA in addition to legislative plans focused on streamlining permitting to modernize energy infrastructure and promoting carbon capture, nuclear power, natural gas and hydropower.
As an example, Rogers has highlighted concerns over a Department of Energy loan program geared toward advancing clean energy technology not yet funded by the private sector. This system will likely be expanded under the IRA.
“The Energy and Commerce Committee is at the middle of solving a very powerful issues facing hardworking Americans – lowering costs, promoting free speech, and preserving free markets,” Rodgers said in an announcement.
Earlier this month, the committee reviewed 17 energy bills, including those that might boost mining and oil and gas drilling, curb taxes on the fossil fuel industry and roll back climate provisions under the IRA.
The actions include repealing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program designed to finance energy-saving projects, in addition to eliminating the IRA’s Methane Emission Reduction Program, which imposes a federal fee on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
It’s unlikely, nevertheless, that Republicans may have success changing or repealing climate programs under the IRA, for the reason that president has the authority to veto congressional efforts to vary climate-spending provisions.
Frank Lucas, chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee
Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, is interviewed by CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images in his Rayburn Constructing office on Thursday, January 26, 2023.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Rep. Frank Lucas, a fifth-generation Oklahoman who operates a farm and cattle ranch, is the brand new chair of the committee that has jurisdiction over key federal scientific research and development in addition to authority over research activities at agencies just like the Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Weather Service and the EPA.
Lucas has said the committee would deal with issues including securing the availability chain for advanced technologies, renewing U.S. leadership in space and aeronautics and researching ways to make domestic energy cleaner.
“We’ll be specializing in promoting revolutionary technologies to facilitate our clean energy transition,” Lucas told CNBC. “Our goal is to make American energy cleaner, cheaper and more reliable. So every energy source and technology pathway is on the table in our effort to scale back emissions.”
Lucas has introduced laws that might make the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the agency that forecasts weather, monitors storms and researches the impacts of climate change — an independent agency relatively than an element of the Commerce Department. The bill would require Democrats’ support to pass.
Lucas said the committee would also conduct “robust oversight” of the spending being distributed to advance the country’s clean energy sector.
“We’ll deal with helping fossil fuels turn into cleaner and more efficient now, investing in battery storage and other tools to make renewable sources like wind and solar energy more reliable and supporting advanced technologies for nuclear and hydrogen,” Lucas said.
The previous chair of the committee, the now-retired Lamar Smith, R-Texas, had repeatedly questioned the science of climate change and accused federal researchers of manipulating climate research.
In contrast, Lucas has acknowledged the specter of disasters like drought and warmth waves which are growing worse with climate change, but has resisted moving to curb fossil fuel production to handle the issue.