Twenty-four environmental groups signed on to a letter to senators Tuesday urging them to refuse to take up a House-passed energy reform bill that includes provisions they believe would take environmental policy “backwards.”
The environmentalists object to a House-passed energy package that took a Senate bill, which passed with a huge bipartisan majority, and latched on a previous bill that passed the lower chamber. While the Senate bill was popular across the aisle, the House bill was passed mostly along party lines and derided by Democrats as Republicans bowing to oil industry pressure.
Republicans say the amended bill modernizes the country’s energy infrastructure, allows easier export of liquefied natural gas, strengthens energy security, improves efficiency and helps lessen the impact of environmental regulation on businesses.
The bill also expedites liquefied natural gas exports, which Republicans say will help lessen the natural gas glut while strengthening the United States’ allies. There are also provisions in the bill to fight drought in California’s Central Valley and help western states fight wildfires.
Senators and representatives are now working together to come up with a deal that will be acceptable to both chambers of Congress, but the green groups want to make sure that the House package isn’t included.
“The legislation sent over from the House of Representatives undermines the progress our nation needs,” the letter states. “Their amendment substituted a bipartisan energy bill with a long list of extreme ideological provisions that would take us backwards on many of our critical environmental priorities.”
“It undermines many of our current protections including those secured under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Equal Access to Justice Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other key laws.”
The letter was signed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, 350.org, Greenpeace USA, the Wilderness Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others.
Some Democrats criticized the bill for ignoring climate change and not doing enough to update energy infrastructure and invest in clean energy.
The letter noted the Obama administration has threatened a veto of any bill that contains the House legislation.
The environmentalists wrote they are worried about provisions in the bill that they say weaken energy efficiency standards, cut research supported by the Department of Energy, development by the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy and allowing new pipelines to go through national parks.
“The House passed amendment would undoubtedly take our country down the wrong track and contains so many controversial and problematic provisions it is impossible to see how agreement could be found,” the letter states. “Rejecting a conference with the current House offer is essential to protect against harm to our environment.”
