Republican lawmakers began their effort Monday to scrap two environmental regulations issued in the waning hours of the Obama administration.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., led the charge with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., in introducing the first of two resolutions to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, which places strict requirements on the coal mining industry in their states.
“Put into place by the Obama administration at the eleventh hour, the … rule is a harmful regulation that unfairly targets coal jobs,” McConnell said. “It is just one example of the former administration’s policies that have jeopardized jobs and taken power away from state and local governments in order to grow the federal bureaucracy.”
The regulation looks to stop runoff from mining operations from polluting streams and waterways. But critics say it oversteps state authorities that already have stream protection programs of their own and would raise costs for the industry.
McConnell added that the regulation does not account for the “negative consequences” of the regulations “on hardworking Americans and the families they support.” He said it is just one example of what he called “the former administration’s attack on coal communities like those in my home state of Kentucky.”
Capito, also from a coal state, said, “passing this resolution of disapproval will help usher in a new era of common-sense policies that protect our environment without needlessly compromising our economy and jobs.”
A resolution of disapproval gives lawmakers the ability to strike down onerous regulations through a law called the Congressional Review Act, which was signed into law by former Democratic President Bill Clinton. A resolution requires a simple majority to pass, and with President Trump in the White House and Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, the two resolutions are expected to pass swiftly and be signed into law.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced the second resolution opposing the Interior Department’s venting and flaring regulations for the oil and natural gas industry on federal lands.
The rules are meant to control methane emissions and are a key step in fulfilling former President Barack Obama’s climate agenda. Methane emissions are considered a potent greenhouse gas blamed by a majority of scientists for raising the temperature of the Earth and leading to global warming. Similar regulations already had been imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Instead of enforcing a duplicative regulation, [the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management] should use its limited resources to permit natural gas pipelines on federal lands in a timely manner,” Barrasso said. “Pipelines will help producers capture additional gas and get that gas to market. These projects will also create jobs and provide energy for Americans.”
He was joined by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who introduced a companion resolution.
“This rule is one of the most egregious abuses of power from the Obama administration designed to shut down responsible energy development on our federal lands,” Bishop said. He vowed that this will be the “first of many steps we will take to cut red tape that is forcing job losses in communities across the country.”
Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee also introduced a companion resolution to the one offered by McConnell and Capito repealing the Stream Protection Rule.
The resolutions are expected to be voted on by their respective House committees before going to the floor. Democrats already have announced efforts to try to block the resolutions, which they called an affront to public health.
Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee are holding a hearing on the methane regulations on Feb. 1, outlining the benefits of the regulations by hearing from environmentalists and other proponents.
“Republicans are helping polluters hurt the rest of us and telling us we should thank them,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the Natural Resources Committee’s top Democrat. “The American people didn’t vote for this, they don’t support it and they won’t benefit from it.”
