The bill, which includes funding for both the EPA and the Interior Department, would bring the EPA’s topline funding level down to its lowest in decades.
It has virtually no chance of becoming law, since it won’t make it past the Senate or President Biden. But it provides a starting point for Republicans as they look to negotiate government funding in the months ahead.
The bill is one of 12 annual funding bills the GOP hoped to have passed by a Nov. 17 deadline to prevent a shutdown. However, Republicans face a challenge in staying unified on spending as they look to approve the remaining five bills in the tight window.
Here are some other provisions from the bill that passed the House Friday:
Slashes Inflation Reduction Act programs aimed at helping underserved communities fight pollution and climate change
Defunds agency efforts to enforce power plant regulations
Cuts the National Park Service budget by 13 percent
Requires twice-annual offshore oil lease sales in Alaska and parts of the Gulf of Mexico
Read more from Rachel and our colleague Aris Folley in a full report atTheHill.com.
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
A federal appeals court on Thursday is tossing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ban on a pesticide that has been linked to brain damage in children. The decision from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to send the rule back to the agency does not preclude the agency from reinstating the ban in the future.
Research published Thursday in the Oxford Open Climate Change journal suggests the world will reach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the decade.
The Biden administration announced Friday morning that it is investing more than $653 million to fund port projects with the goal of improving U.S. supply chain reliability.
Wednesday: The Senate Environment Committee will hold a hearing to examine accessing clean water infrastructure assistance, focusing on small, rural, disadvantaged and underserved communities.
Thursday: The Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing to examine the implementation of federal coal mine land reclamation and abandoned coal mine land economic revitalization programs.
What We’re Reading
News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:
How abandoned oil wells plague the Osage nation (Grist/Osage News)
California regulators put off a decision on solar rules, again (KPBS)
The publisher of Mark Meadows’s book is suing the former White House chief of staff, arguing in court filings Friday morning that he violated an agreement with All Seasons Press by including false statements about former President Trump’s claims surrounding the 2020 election. Read more
In public education’s latest blunder, the Oregon Department of Education has just decided that basic reading, writing and math skills are not required for students to graduate with a high school diploma. Read more
