Rich Nolan was on the Hill yesterday testifying before the House Natural Resources Committee on permitting reform and the big takeaway is that there may actually be room for bipartisan compromise. The sticking point for Democrats seemed to be ensuring that wind and solar projects get the same benefits as fossil fuel projects, something that would happen under Chairman Westerman's technology agnostic SPEED Act, which was the topic of the hearing.
Also on the Hill yesterday, senators reintroduced legislation to permanently authorize an EPA office to coordinate the cleanup of thousands of abandoned hardrock mines across the nation. Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming's "Legacy Mine Cleanup Act," would make permanent EPA's Office of Mountains, Deserts and Plains to office, created in President Trump's first term. A companion bill has been introduced in the House.
And the Trump administration formally moved to repeal the Biden-era Land Heath and Conservation rule that elevated conservation over other land uses on public lands and threatened the ability to pursue natural resource extraction in key areas. In making the announcement, Sec. of Interior Burgum said, "The previous administration's Public Lands Rule had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land — preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West."
