The GOP-led House on Thursday passed a fossil-fuel friendly energy infrastructure package that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said will be “dead-on-arrival” in his chamber.

H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, passed on a 225-204 vote with just four Democrats voting in favor: Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas. 

At the heart of the bill is a raft of changes to the Mineral Leasing Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Air Act intended to accelerate the permitting of oil, natural gas and mining projects, in part by reducing environmental reviews and protests.

The bill directs the Department of the Interior to “immediately resume” quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales, requiring four such sales annually in nine Western and Plains states, while increasing the fees associated with protesting the sales. It also seeks to streamline the permitting process for drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.

H.R. 1 would additionally roll back Obama-era restrictions on leasing of coal mines on public lands and ease the process for the mining of other materials, such as uranium and minerals considered critical to the supply chain of clean energy resources, such as lithium. It also restricts ownership of that supply chain by China-based entities.

But conspicuously absent from the bill are any of the kind measures that Democrats — including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — and clean energy advocates have been seeking to expedite permitting of new electric transmission. (See Republicans Opening Offer on Permitting is Missing Electric Tx.)

After Thursday’s vote, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted that H.R. 1 is “an important bill that lowers energy costs, reduces global emissions and strengthens America’s national security” — although that second claim sparked criticism from Twitter users who pointed out the bill actually contains a provision to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s greenhouse gas reduction fund, which provided competitive grants, emphasizing projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said the vote showed her party is “prioritizing the American people over the Democrat’s radical climate agenda.”

“Reform of our broken permitting process will spur greater energy production, boost economic growth, create jobs and bring down costs for American families. It will limit the threat posed by hostile nations like Russia and China,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 

Reactions

House passage of the bill predictably received support from the fossil fuel sector and its allies.

“It is clear now that both Republicans and Democrats share the common goal of providing reliable energy to Americans and making energy safer, cleaner and more affordable,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement. “This is a positive step towards enacting serious, bipartisan permitting reform, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate on real solutions that will modernize our infrastructure and benefit all Americans.”

Thomas Pyle, CEO of the American Energy Alliance, a group with financial ties to participants in the oil and gas industry, said the bill signals that Republicans “are keeping their promise to fight the Biden administration’s radical approach to energy policy.”

Pyle said the bill will reduce the U.S.’s dependence on China for minerals and mineral processing.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) called the development a “meaningful step forward” on permitting modernization, citing a provision to expedite reviews under NEPA and other federal processes.

“As threats to electric reliability mount and our nation increasingly relies on electricity to power more of the economy, it is critical that Congress streamline the process to permit, build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps the lights on across the country,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said.

Critics of the bill pointed to the lack of provisions pertaining to electric infrastructure.

Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, criticized H.R. 1 for attempting to repeal energy efficiency and electrification investments from the Inflation Reduction Act, including the greenhouse gas reduction fund.

“This bill would leave many Americans continuing to live in homes with outdated heating equipment, poor insulation and high energy costs,” Nadel said. “This is a repeal of investments that enable households and businesses to make energy-saving improvements. It’s a repeal of funding for low-carbon technologies in low-income and disadvantaged communities. It’s a repeal of job training programs.”

Gregory Wetstone, CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), said “any truly comprehensive permitting bill needs to help streamline the nation’s unworkable approval process for electric transmission lines.”

DOA — or Possible Compromise?

Wetstone also was among those calling for compromise as the bill heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate.

“We remain hopeful Congress can negotiate a bipartisan, bicameral solution this year,” Wetstone said.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), co-chairs of the National Governors Association’s Energy and Infrastructure Working Group, issued a joint statement calling for Congress and the Biden administration “to work together to find common ground to improve the energy and infrastructure delivery process.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Joe Manchin, chair of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Manchin could see the bill becoming the foundation for a cross-party effort on permitting.

“Sen. Manchin is taking a close look at HR1 and is hopeful there might be a pathway to permitting legislation that could gain bipartisan support,” spokesperson Sam Runyon said in a statement.

But the response from other Congressional Democrats suggests H.R. 1 might not be the right vehicle for such compromise.

“By passing this legislation today, House Republicans are putting polluters over people. This bill is nothing more than a grab bag of Big Oil giveaways and loopholes that endanger the health, safety and security of Americans,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee. 

“The House has passed HR1 — the GOP ‘energy package’ that would gut environmental safeguards and lock us into dirty energy sources. It would set the U.S. back decades in our transition to clean energy,” Schumer tweeted Thursday. “HR1 is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.”