The top senators on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee introduced a new bipartisan, comprehensive energy bill on Thursday, restarting a process to pass energy legislation that was stalled last year partly because of the presidential election.
The bill, the Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017, was introduced by energy committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee.
The bill is intended to boost energy efficiency and improve land management, infrastructure and cybersecurity of the energy system.
The bill already has received the attention of the Trump administration as it marks Energy Week ahead of the July 4 holiday.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry told an audience at an Energy Week conference Thursday that he talked to Murkowski Thursday and will be reviewing the legislation over the weekend to assess how it achieves the administration’s energy goals.
“I talked to Chairman Murkowski today about her legislation. I am really looking forward, in fact over the weekend, really taking a look at it. She sent a copy over,” Perry said.
He said the administration will work with the committee and the energy industry “to try to create a piece of legislation that will further unleash this extraordinary energy world that America finds itself in at this particular time.”
Murkowski said it has been a “full decade since Congress has passed legislation to modernize and reform our nation’s energy and resource policies.” She said the House and Senate “came very close to achieving that goal last year” and are continuing to work toward passage this year in writing “another strong bill.” The House and Senate were in the last phase of finalizing the bill before sending it to the president’s desk last year, when House members decided to scrap the bill’s conference in favor of reaching a better deal under Trump.
The new bill is “not only as an opening for bipartisan accomplishment, but more importantly, as a significant opportunity to boost our economic growth, improve our infrastructure, enhance our security, and bolster our global competitiveness — results that we all support and should be working toward,” she said.
Cantwell said the bill is aimed at helping to modernize the nation’s energy infrastructure while also securing it from “extreme weather, climate change and serious cyber threats.”
