Week ahead: House takes up bills targeting EPA regs

The House will move in the coming week on a trio of regulatory and energy bills.

The Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting Monday to begin looking at the three proposals: the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act, the Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act and the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act.

The House is likely to take up the bills in the days following the committee’s meeting.

The first two bills seek to change Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to benefit specific industries.

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The Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act would exempt certain power plants that burn coal refuse from parts of a major 2012 air pollution rule. The Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act, meanwhile, would delay implementation of a 2015 rule on air pollution from brick kilns.

The committee is also due to consider the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act, which would expand federal agencies’ responsibilities to regularly review their rules and policies for potential repeals or changes.

Elsewhere in the House, the Natural Resources Committee will meet for a Tuesday hearing on exploring ways to reduce the Interior Department’s maintenance backlog in agencies like the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Natural Resources Committee will also meet Wednesday to vote on three bills concerning strategic minerals, Western federal land transfers and federal land in the Virgin Islands. 

Also on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on the future of transportation fuels.

In the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, lawmakers in the Interior subcommittee are planning a Tuesday hearing on the Army Corps of Engineers.

On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet Tuesday to hear from James Reilly II, President Trump’s nominee to be director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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