The Republican Energy and Climate Agenda

“Republicans are preparing to advance an ambitious energy agenda if they win control of the House in next week’s elections — including faster approvals of fossil fuel projects and probes of how the Biden administration is spending its hundreds of billions in climate dollars,” report Josh Siegel and Kelsey Tamborrino for POLITICO on November 1.

A six-part plan written by an energy, climate, and conservation (ECC) task force under the expectation that the House would shift to Republican control in January, was initially released by Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on June 2. The policy papers [PDFs] can be accessed from his website:

Over the coming months, the ECC Task Force will roll out policies in 6 key issue areas, including: 

1. Unlock American Resources
2. American Innovation
3. Let America Build
4. Beat China and Russia
5. Conservation with a Purpose; and
6. Build Resilient Communities

“We are creating a clear coherent energy strategy that returns the U.S. to an emissions reduction trajectory as opposed to what we are seeing under the Biden administration, which is failing every test, whether it be affordability, emissions or security,” Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), the chair of the 17-member task force, told POLITICO in an exclusive interview previewing the plan, reported Siegel on June 1.

Graves, the ranking member on the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis (see three related posts), described the Republican energy and climate plans in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner published June 9 that was critical of the Biden administration's  approach.

Instead of taking action to devise a strategy to address our energy crisis, Biden and Democrats keep unsuccessfully playing the blame game while looking to adversaries for help. They have blamed domestic energy producers while refusing to allow new energy production and have discouraged investment. 

Climate?

Among the ‘key highlights’ of the plan, CNBC's Emma Newburger noted some possible shortcomings, writing on June 3 that it “involves proposals that run counter to the warnings of climate scientists” and “doesn’t set specific greenhouse gas targets.”

Energy?

As for for Grave's assertion in his aforementioned op-ed of the Biden administration's “refusing to allow new energy production,” an analysis prepared by POLITICO shows a different story.

“The U.S. has also produced more crude oil since Biden’s inauguration than it had done during the equivalent period of former President Donald Trump’s presidency, a POLITICO review of federal energy data shows,” reported Ben Lefebvre on November 2.

Related:

• Use or Misuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? November 3, 2022