The race is on for Congress to finish what many lawmakers consider must-pass energy and environment legislation.
Among the priorities for the remaining weeks in Congress are a comprehensive energy bill, the Water Resources Development Act, which includes funding for the water crisis in Flint, Mich., re-authorization of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields fund to clean up polluted sites around the country, reform and funding of the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire-fighting procedures and addressing drought in California.
The comprehensive energy bill, which includes a number of measures including expediting the export process for liquefied natural gas, is perhaps the top priority for energy-related committees in Congress. The conference committee met for the first time on Thursday, and members on both sides of the aisle are hopeful lawmakers can pass the first energy reform package since 2007.
“I want to get this energy bill passed and there are important parts to the legislation that I think will help the economy grow,” said Republican Sen. John Barrasso, one of the conferees. “There’s a bipartisan agreement with that.”
The bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly, but tough negotiations are expected between House Republicans and Senate Democrats.
The House-passed version of the bill includes measures Republicans say modernizes the country’s energy infrastructure, strengthens energy security, improves efficiency and helps lessen the impact of environmental regulation on businesses. But Democrats have slammed those measures as handouts to the oil industry.
The Senate version agreed with the House version on some aspects, such as expediting natural gas exports, but placated Democrats by increasing clean energy investments and permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Parish Braden, spokesman for the House Natural Resources Committee, said the panel passed seven bills that were included as part of the comprehensive package.
“We have a number of issues to work through with the Senate,” he said.
Braden added that the committee wants to see a wildfire bill introduced by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., become law, whether as part of the energy package, part of an omnibus budget bill or as a standalone law.
The bill would not only address wildfire funding and seek to end the practice of fire borrowing, or paying for fighting fires by taking money from other parts of the U.S. Forest Service’s budget, but it also would change management practices within the Forest Service.
Braden said the Forest Service’s decision-making on how to reduce fuel for wildfires and other management practices needs to be addressed by Congress.
“We need to address the pace and scale of active management of the Forest Service,” Braden said.
Senators from both parties began a hard push last week on the 2016 version of the Water Resources Development Act, a $9 billion bill that funds 25 Army Corps of Engineers projects that already have been authorized.
The bill also includes billions of dollars for the country’s water infrastructure and has become the latest vehicle for a $220 million funding package for Flint, where lead-contaminated water caused 100,000 residents to be unable to drink their water for about a year without a filter.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., urged the Senate on the floor last week to pass the bill and said funding in the legislation would have gone to projects that could have lessened the 1,000-year flooding in Baton Rouge, La., last month.
“We can’t continue to rebuild neighborhoods and cities after natural disasters,” Vitter said. “We have to become more proactive in our oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers to make sure projects are done on time.”
Donnelle Harder, spokeswoman for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., hoped the bill would go through the Senate in early September. She said it would have support in the House, where a version of the bill has made it through committee.
“Ultimately, it will have some victories for everyone,” she said.
